


These Not So Old Bones

by AngelWithAStory



Series: Immortality Comes At a Price and We Pay For It With Crime [10]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Confessions, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fake AH Crew, First Kiss, Immortal Fake AH Crew, Implied Sexual Content, Multi, Non Canonical Immortal, Non-Explicit Sex, Old Friends, Recreational Drug Use, Trans Female Character, Trans Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-04-16 22:13:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 33,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4642035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelWithAStory/pseuds/AngelWithAStory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Geoff never fell in love. Not after he died the first time and he had always vowed he wouldn’t. Not even when she waltzed into his life, picked him back up and stayed by his side stubbornly.  Not even when they spent multiple lives together and created a new family from rag-tag strays.</p><p>Even when he did fall in love, he never so much as <i>fell</i> in love, as slid inevitably to that outcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unfortunate Realisation

**Author's Note:**

> this will probably be the last instalment during the summer because in September I start my A-Levels and they _should_ in theory keep me pretty busy (though that's what they said about GCSEs and I managed to write the first 6 parts while revising so :/ )
> 
> This follows on directly from Times Change Outside the Prison Walls with a time difference of a few months.

Geoff never fell in love. Not after he died the first time and he had always vowed he wouldn’t. Not even when she waltzed into his life, picked him back up and stayed by his side stubbornly.  Not even when they spent multiple lives together and created a new family from rag-tag strays.

Even when he did fall in love, he never so much as _fell_  in love, as slid inevitably to that outcome.

And he was oblivious as dicks towards it too.

All the Crew’s jokes only started to stick when he’d started to notice _exactly_  how much time he spent with Jack.

How they’d sit together and watch films, or how they’d get into the same car without thinking if they needed a fast get-away.

Then he’d started to think about all the little times in the past.

How Jack would always try to nurse him back to life after a fatal wound and only use respawning as a last resort. How he would come back to Jack sat beside him, sometimes still covered in his blood, but always with a warm smile on her face.

He thought about all the times Jack had been killed and how he’d sit beside her, praying to whatever that she’d come back; that their lives weren’t up. About how happy he’d always be when she came back.

Geoff liked to think his heart was protected, but the more he thought about it the more he realised how stupid He was to think that.

Jack had been the first one to break down his defences, and after that every new Crew member had just sauntered in and set up camp.

Jack. The woman who shared his liquor and who he trusted enough to tell about his first life and who she trusted enough to talk about her own. The woman who helped him back onto his feet and stubbornly kept him there.

He could probably narrow it down to three moments.

The first was when they’d robbed someone for the first time and they were sat in Jack’s small apartment, looking at all the jewels and small stacks of money. They’d stayed up for the rest of that night, laughing and holding each other, _thriving_  off the adrenaline rush they’d gotten.

The second was when Geoff was sat in a hospital room, beside Jack in the hospital bed. He was _waiting_  for her to wake up, and when she did he stood up, gently reaching for her hand.

“Geoff?” Jack asked, looking up at him blearily.

“Hey Jackie.” Geoff said, smiling down at her. When the doctors allowed it, he’d handed her a mirror Lindsay had given him when they’d last visited and sat in silence. Jack looked at herself in the mirror and cried in happiness, finally looking like who she’d known she was for centuries. Geoff had cried with her, holding her hand and wiping away Jack’s tears while she kept looking at herself.

(He’d almost hit Gavin in the dick when he’d made that stupid ‘ _you look like you’ve got a lot on your chest, Jack_ ’ joke)

The third was when they’d drove down the coastal road in a stolen convertible, the money from their last heist in the backseat, the cops a distant memory. When Geoff had turned the radio on and they’d sang along loudly to whatever song came on, carefree and incapable of feeling fear. The rest of the crew heard, but they were too busy celebrating themselves to really care.

“We did it Geoff.” Jack said, her feet up on the dashboard, looking over at him with a grin on her face and her hair flying about.

“Yeah we did.” Geoff said, reaching out to her and patting her knee. Jack just laughed and grabbed his hand, throwing their clasped hands in the air as they tore down the tarmac. It was a sign of unity, and when he looked over and saw the shine in her eye, he felt his chest tighten. That drive was when Geoff knew just how badly he was _fucked_.


	2. Breaking Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is super long so enjoy :D

Geoff pulled into an abandoned car park by coasting the last quarter of a mile on the way and they both jumped out the car, grabbing the bags. A motorcycle was stashed, waiting for them and they hopped on. Geoff started it up and waited for Jack to set the sticky bomb before tearing down the street. The explosion behind them only spurred them on, and Geoff tried not to focus on Jack’s arms around him and her laughter in his ears.

They rode back to the apartment and went up the lift, not saying anything and letting themselves catch their breath. Geoff unlocked the apartment and they dumped the bags on the sofa.

“We did it Jack!” Geoff shouted excitedly, breaking the quiet. He ran to hug Jack and lifted her off the ground in a spin. “We pulled off the heist of the century!”

“Yeah we did.” Jack said, laughing at Geoff’s excitement. Geoff put her back down, taking her hand and spinning her around. Jack laughed louder and let Geoff spin her back in, holding her in his arms. She was spun out again and faced Geoff wrapping her arms around his neck to hug. Geoff’s arms went around her waist, squeezing her tightly.

They looked at each other, their skin still sweaty from the heist and still smelling of petrol and gunpowder. Jack’s hair was still messy from the fast convertible they’d stolen. Geoff’s eyes flickered to Jack’s lips.

Jack cleared her throat awkwardly, expecting Geoff to spring back like every other time before. But he didn’t. He just turned his eyes to the side, looking sheepish.

“Can I?” He managed to get out, his voice cracking a tiny amount from nerves. Jack was stunned. Geoff nodded and leaned back, as if he was going to break the contact, but Jack tightened her arms.

She leaned in, testing the waters and brushing their lips together. Geoff leaned into the kiss, his shoulders relaxing and his arms holding Jack tighter. They broke the kiss and looked at each other. After this long, all it took was the thrill of a good heist and they could be more? All those little touches and invasions of personal space and constant parenting jokes, and all of that could be changed by an adrenaline rush. All the jokes from the Crew, all the little teasing remarks.

Had something changed? Had something between them broken? Or had it blossomed?

Jack raised one hand, running it through Geoff’s hair, tracing the other to cup his cheek that was still prickly from a lack of shaving.

Geoff met her eye, something in them asking the same questions she was. He leaned down again, kissing Jack softly. For a man who had an entire city at his beck and call, he was surprisingly nervous when it came to breaking this wall between them. Jack kissed back, harder. If they were going to do this, they might as well do it right.

He responded by breaking the kiss and nipping her lips playfully and planting a kiss on her cheek, and another on her jaw, then one on her neck. Jack practically melted, tilting back her head. Geoff smiled against her skin and blew a small raspberry against the crook of her neck, making Jack to instinctively curl up, a smile on her face.

“Jackass.” She muttered running both hands through his hair and curling her fingers.

“You love it.” Geoff said, smiling smugly. Jack rolled her eyes, kissing him again pressing her body against his.

Geoff loosened his arms, putting a hand on either side of Jack’s waist, sliding his hands down her side until he hooked them around her knees and lifted her up. Jack followed his lead, hooking her legs around his hips. Geoff adjusted his hands so he could support her and looked at Jack nervously.

“Too far?” He asked, aware of every part of his body, especially the parts in direct contact with Jack’s.

“Is this?” Jack asked teasingly, rolling her hips just a bit. Geoff laughed to play off his _actual_  reaction and nipped her lips.

The front door to the apartment swung open and the others were stood on the other side, freezing in their tracks when they saw.

"Whoa, what the fuck! Mum and dad are making out! I need therapy!" Ray shouted, covering his eyes dramatically.

"We'll give you some alone time." Ryan said, dumping their bags just inside the apartment before closing the door and winking at the couple. It had just clicked closed when it was slammed open and Gavin was glaring at them pointedly.

“ABOUT _BLOODY_  TIME, YOU WANKERS. IT’S BEEN NEARLY A CENTURY, YOU _PRICKS_!” He shouted, being forced backwards by Michael while Ryan closed the door again. The words ‘ _a hundred sodding years I had to deal with those two dancing around that_ ’ were audible through the door.

They heard the loud discussion/shouting match that ended with Ryan shouting that he'll take them to see a movie if it meant they'd just shut up already.

When the outside of the apartment had quietened down, Jack chanced a look at Geoff and saw his face was red and his shoulders were shaking. He looked up and he couldn't contain his laughter anymore. Jack laughed too, resting her head on Geoff's shoulder as her whole body shook. She realised how nice it felt, to just laugh with him, to kiss him, to be close to him.

“I think we need to start locking that door.” Jack said, leaning back enough to look at him. “Or use a different apartment.”

“We have another apartment?” Geoff asked, his laughter finally dying down. Jack shrugged casually, a small smirk on her face.

“Ryan gave me a spare key to his apartment.” She said, a mischievous edge to her smile.

“Jack, you are _evil_.” Geoff said. His smile had a mischievous edge as well, but his eyes had a shine in them that he always got when he imagined the controlled chaos of a successful heist.

“I know.” Jack said, leaning back down as if she was going to kiss him again but not closing the gap between their lips. Geoff leaned forwards, taking the open invitation eagerly.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes later when there was a knock at the apartment door.

Geoff broke this kiss, turning his head to glare at the door.

“RYAN, YOU FUCK, YOU SAID YOU’D GET RID OF THEM.” He shouted, Jack still curled around him.

“ _Erm, Pattillo_?” A voice said on the other side of the door hesitantly. “ _It’s Jinx._ ”

“I’ll be right there!” Jack shouted, smoothly unhooking her legs from around Geoff and standing back on her feet. Geoff gave her a quizzical look, which she ignored. “You might want to quickly take care of your _problem_  before you meet them.” She said slyly, giving him a wink and smiling at the flush that crept up his face.

Geoff walked down the corridor towards the bedrooms and Jack smoothed down her hair and clothes quickly, opening the door.

Sure enough, Jinx, Grif and Turney were stood on the other side of the threshold. They looked the same as they did in Jack’s memory, except that now Jinx had a few blue streaks running through her blonde hair, Grif had a septum piercing in, her hair shaved on one side and her tattooes bared proudly, and Turney’s hair was a deeper shade of purple and curled around her shoulders. It was almost strange to see them, but Jack knew that this was how they should have looked when they met. This was who they actually were.

“So you got my letter.” Jack said, beaming at them warmly. She stepped to the side, beckoning them inside. The three women did so, following Jack to a bar that Gavin had insisted they buy when he went through a phase of wanting to learn how to make cocktails. They sat on the brightly coloured but impractical chairs and Jack stood opposite them. “Drinks?”

“I’ll just have a beer.” Turney said, looking about the apartment curiously. Her eyes went to the bags strewn about and raised an eyebrow. Grif and Jinx echoed Turney’s answer and Jack pulled four beers out of the fridge, placing them on the bar counter and opening them.

The four women drank for a moment in silence. Turney was about to ask something when Geoff strolled out into the main room, a cocky look on his face. He stopped when he saw the small congregation of women and walked over to stand beside Jack.

“Are you going to introduce me, Jack?” He asked, stealing a swig of Jack’s beer.

“Geoff, this is Turney, Jinx and Grif.” Jack said, gesturing to each woman in turn. “We were cellmates when I was in prison.”

“So I have you three to thank for keeping her out of trouble.” Geoff said, leaning his forearms on the counter. He had his charming smile on.

“She got into enough trouble without us.” Grif said, gesturing to Jack with the neck of her beer bottle. “I’m surprised she wasn’t locked up with your Vagabond, the way she nearly beat that guy in the Yard.” There was a note of amusement and a strange sort of pride in Grif’s voice.

“Was this before or after the Vagabond was set on fire in the men’s room?” Geoff asked, standing so close to Jack that Turney and Jinx shared a knowing look.

“After.” Jinx said, taking a long drink of her beer.

“So what’s with the bags?” Turney asked. “You just finish robbing a bank?”

“Something like that.” Jack said, a knowing smile on her face. “Why? Are you looking for a job?” Turney’s lips quirked upwards as she took another drink.

“Something like that.” Grif said.

“Oh!” Jinx said exclaimed, suddenly digging around in her bag. She pulled a small object out and held it in her hand, passing it to Jack. “I almost forgot.”

Jack smiled at her and took back her coin, flipping it over between her fingers a few times before she slipped it into her pocket. Geoff watched the exchange with an unreadable expression on his face.

“You girls must really be something special.” He commented, withdrawing from the bar counter to finally fix himself a drink. He poured himself a glass of whiskey that older than Ray and resumed his place beside Jack, sneakily looping his arm around her waist. “Jack usually never invites friends over. Something about the rest of us being ‘ _embarrassing_ ’.” Geoff said, shrugging in confusion, hiding his smile as Jack nudged his shoulder playfully.

“Well, Jack’s pretty great herself.” Jinx said fairly. “I mean, she managed to get instructions on how to escape prison past the guards without anyone knowing.”

Geoff glanced at Jack, a look in his eye that Jack hadn’t seen in a while.

“You should take charge of the heists more, then.” Geoff said, finishing his whiskey. 


	3. Unexpected Introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a _very_ vague idea of what I'm going to do with this story, but right now it's going to be pretty character-based

Ryan stood outside the apartment door, fiddling for a moment with his keys, trying to find the right one. Ray leaned against the wall beside him, watching him with an amused look on his face.

“You think they’re banging in there?” Ray asked, nodding towards the door Ryan was trying to unlock.

“They better not be! We sleep in there!” Michael called from down the corridor, dragging Gavin behind him. Ryan smirked and finally found the correct key, putting it in the lock.

“They have a key to one of my spare apartments, so hopefully they’ll use that.” Ryan said, turning the lock and tentatively pushing the door open. “Is it safe to come in?” He called inside.

“ _Yes_.” Geoff said, exasperation in his voice. Ryan pushed the door open fully and led the other three in. Lindsay had run into an old friend while they were out and they’d promptly gone out to a bar to catch up.

“There weren’t any good movies on but I tried to give you as much time as I could, Geoff.” Ryan said, shrugging his leather jacket off and throwing it over the back of the sofa. He barely looked at the other people in the apartment as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a can of Diet Coke and an energy drink. Skilfully, Ryan opened his diet Coke with one hand and passed the other to Ray, who was pulling his shoes off.

“Ryan?” A female voice asked. Ryan stilled, the can halfway to his mouth. He hadn’t heard that voice in a while. “You’ve still got that creepy mask, huh?”

“You helped me pick it out, Ashley, don’t forget.” Ryan said, putting the can down on the bar and turning to look at the owner of the voice. She definitely looked a bit older than when he last saw her, and the blonde hair/blue streak combination was new, but she was still how he remembered her.

“Well, we didn’t think you’d still wear it.” Another female voice said. Ryan turned and took a second for it to sink in. Her hair was no longer red, but she was definitely her.

“You think I’d let my image go after this long, Meg? I’m insulted.” He teased. His hand reached up and he pulled off the mask, dropping it on the counter. “What? No hug?”

The two girls just laughed and got out of their seat, crowding him in a familial hug. Ryan was considerably taller and actually stooped down slightly to hug them. He looked like he was able to pick them both up with how tightly they were hugging.

The rest of the Crew watched them with looks ranging from ‘ _oh how cute_ ’ to looks of mild panic and horror. Ray just looked amused as he drank from his can. He was the only one who Ryan had told.

Finally, Ryan released the girls, keeping a hand on their shoulders. It was a brotherly gesture and the Crew was unused to seeing that side of Ryan. It had cropped up occasionally in play fighting and rounds of video games, but never like this.

“Ryan, buddy,” Geoff said lightly, drawing the attention to him. He looked pointed to Jinx and Turney, silently requesting an explanation.

“Oh, right.” Ryan said. “This is Ashley and Meg. We used to run together before I joined the Crew.” Geoff nodded, looking at the women skeptically. They looked _way_  too young to be affiliated with the likes of the Vagabond, though he knew that meant nothing to people like the Crew.

“Ryan, this is Grif.” Ashley/Jinx said, looking over at the third woman, still sat at the bar. Grif smiled at him, giving him a small nod of respect.

“Nice to meet you.” Ryan said, all polite and gentleman-y. “Ashley, Meg, I assume you’ve met Jack and Geoff.” He looked over at the two Crew members by the bar. “This is Ray, Michael and Gavin. Lindsay went for a drink with a friend she bumped into.” He said the last sentence to Geoff as an explanation.

Meg and Ashley turned to look at the other three lads and Meg’s gaze landed on Gavin.

“Hi.” She said, a small laugh in her voice that was just a happy laugh. Gavin took a second to realise it was directed at him and smiled back. His smile was _just_  this side of goofy.

“Hi.” Gavin said.

No one missed it: the look that passed over their faces.

Geoff cleared his throat.

“Do you girls have a place to stay?” He asked politely. “I’m sure between us, we have a place you could stay.”

“We’re not planning on staying here for very long, but we’ve got a place to crash.” Grif said.

“We just need to scrape together enough funds to get the Hell out of here.” Ashley said.

“So you’re looking for a job is what you’re saying?” Michael said, a knowing smile on his face as he looked at Geoff.

“Something like that.” Meg said.

“Well we’ll have to talk it over, but if you wanted it, we might have a few job openings on our next heist.” Jack said, looking between the women.

“But for tonight, I think it’s only right that we treat our guests to bevs.” Gavin said, looking at Jack and Geoff with a touch of hopefulness.

“Great idea, Gav.” Michael said, throwing his arm around Gavin’s neck and playfully ruffling his hair.

“We could go at ten.” Ray piped up. during the conversation, he had moved onto the sofa and was playing on his console, keeping the volume down.

“Is that good for you?” Jack asked, turning to Grif.

“Ten it is.” Grif said.


	4. Down at the Bar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent a fair amount of time today plotting out the entire story, and while I don't have all of it, I do have a lot of it so hopefully it'll be good :D
> 
> If I haven't said before, this follows on from Times Change Outside the Prison Walls with a time difference of a few months.

The bar was fairly quiet, but loud enough so that their conversation could go unheard. Usually, the Crew would take up a booth to themselves, but that night, they pushed a few tables together to accommodate for more than the usual seven.

By the time ten o’clock rolled around, the Crew was already sat and onto their second drinks. The women walked through the doors, dressed up as they walked over to the group. Meg took a seat next to Gavin and Michael, Ashley sat beside Ryan while Grif chose to sit between them and Lindsay, chatting animatedly with her to make up for not being introduced at the apartment. Jack stood up and went to order their drinks, bringing them back on a small tray and placing each drink in front of the respective woman.

“So you guys used to run together?” Ray asked. He had both hands loosely curled around his non-alcoholic drink. Ryan had one arm resting on their table and one arm on the back of Ray’s chair. It was a casual gesture; just intimate enough to allude to a bond between the two men but distant enough so that it wouldn’t draw too much unwanted attention. Ryan knew how Ray felt about intimacy in public. For all his jokes, they _were_  from vastly different times and Ray still had his own inner demons to defeat.

“Oh yeah.” Ashley said, stirring her cocktail. “We were this tiny little crew, all living out of the same apartment. God it was so long ago I can’t even remember what we called ourselves.” She had the tone of voice as someone nostalgically talking about a childhood house or an old video game they used to play every day for hours after school.

“We called ourselves The Patch.” Ryan said, taking an amused drink of his Diet Coke.

“Oh god, The Patch,” Meg said, temporarily distracted from her conversation with Gavin and Michael. “I almost forgot that’s what we called ourselves.”

“Yeah, with, uh, oh, what was his name?” Ashley said, frowning in concentration.

“Was it Gus?” Ryan said.

“Gus! That’s it!” Ashley exclaimed, pointing a finger at Ryan in slight triumph.  

“Gus what?” Geoff asked. The name had caught his attention.

“When we were in a Crew together, it was us three and our friend Gus.” Ryan said, looking at Geoff with a curious edge. Geoff nodded and went back to his conversation with Jack, Lindsay and Grif.

“So what about you, Ray?” Ashley asked politely. “Were you in a group before these guys?”

Ray’s hands tightened imperceptibly around his drink but he put on a smile and looked at Ashley.

“I worked for whoever could pay me.” Ray said. “And a lot of people wanted my skills.”

“I’m not surprised.” Ashley said, taking a drink of her cocktail. “I’ve heard about your reputation, Brownman.”

“Well they offered me a case of redbull and a nice apartment so I think I traded up.” Ray joked. He felt Ryan’s knuckles briefly brush his shoulder through his hoodie and glanced at him. Ryan’s face was impassive, but Ray knew him well enough to know that everything he did was deliberate: he was offering his reassurance.

“So, Ashley, what have you been up to?” Ryan asked, drawing the attention away from Ray.

 

Meg had started talking with Gavin and Michael as soon as she sat down, exchanging quips and funny stories. The lads were sat next to each other, with a casual air between that suggested a long since established friendship. But Meg was known for knowing, and she could almost sense something more, especially when they both talked about Lindsay. Still, Meg enjoyed their energy.

“I’m going to go get another drink.” She said, finishing her cocktail and standing up. She grabbed her purse and held it delicately. “Do you want anything?” Meg asked Michael and Gavin.

“Just another beer.” Michael said, swirling the dregs in the glass bottle.

“I’ll help you carry them.” Gavin said, getting up out of his chair and following Meg to the bar like a gentleman. The bartender walked over to them and they quickly ordered three more drinks, handing over a few notes.

“Hey, Gavin, can I ask you something?” Meg said, leaning on the bar and looking up at Gavin.

“Go for it.” Gavin said.

“What’s the arrangement between you three?” Meg asked, glancing back at the table at Michael and Lindsay.

“What do you mean?” Gavin asked, trying too hard to come off as innocently ignorant.

“I mean that Michael and Lindsay are married, and I’m just wondering where you fit in.” Meg said, turning to face him while still leaning on the bar. “I’m not judging, I’m just wondering if I have a chance here or not.”

“A chance with who?” Gavin asked. Meg raised an eyebrow and it clicked in Gavin’s brain, suddenly turning him a bit sheepish. “Well, it’s an open relationship. We’re not exclusive with each other.”

“So am I wasting my time?” Meg asked, a small smile on her face. She leaned away from the bar as the bartender put the drinks in front of them. “Or would coffee tomorrow be okay?”

“Coffee sounds top.” Gavin said, smiling at Meg as he grabbed two of the drinks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to play a game of 'Guess the Reference'?


	5. All We Do is Drive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is at 10k words in the doc sheet and I'm barely a third of what I have _planned_ so this should be a pretty wild ride

That night it was put down to Ryan to drive Geoff and Jack home since they were a fair bit more than tipsy. He drove slower than he usually would and every time he glanced in the rearview mirror he would catch a glimpse of Geoff and Jack with their heads close together and their hands clasped together. They were talking, but their conversation was inaudible in the front of the car.

Ray was sat next to him, leaning back in his seat and watching the streets outside the window. Michael, Gavin and Lindsay had taken their own car and were probably going back to their own apartment while Meg, Ashley and Grif had managed to hail a taxi to take them to wherever they were staying.

Ryan reached over and patted Ray’s hand, getting his attention.

“So what did you think of Ashley and Meg?” Ryan asked. Ray let out a short laugh, covering his mouth quickly.

“Dude, you sound like I just met your family for the first time and you’re trying to see if I still like you.” Ray said, turning to look at Ryan instead of out the window.

“Well, they _were_  my family for a while.” Ryan said, shrugging.

“Ashley’s nice. And I’m pretty sure Meg and Gavin are going to bang.” Ray said. Ryan laughed at that, resting his elbow on the car window sill and resting his head on that hand.

“If they do, I hope he knows what he’s getting into.” Ryan admitted. “Meg isn’t a woman to be messed with.”

“Know from experience?” Ray asked.

“I worked and lived with Meg for years. Do you remember Jinxcellent and Dollface?” Ryan said, looking over at Ray.

“Yeah. My gang was hired to watch over them during a job.” Ray said.

“Then you’ve already met Ashley and Meg.” Ryan said simply.

“What? Are you serious? That was like thirty years ago! Did you know them when they were babies?” Ray asked, his voice getting loud enough to get the attention of Jack and Geoff.

“No, Ray, I knew them when they were adults.” Ryan said, amusement in his voice. “And are you really that surprised when you’re literally in a crew of immortals, Ray?”  

Ray didn’t reply. He sat back in his seat, staring out the windshield. He’d known them all that time ago? But when he thought of Jinxcellent and Dollface, what he remembered was looking down a scope and watching two women murder an entire room of people to steal some sensitive documents. He remembered the small stack of cash and his entire gang celebrating another job well done. He remembered seeing their eyes glassy and their bodies cold, less than two months later when he’d woken up to a bloody floor and an immortal life.

“Ray?” Ryan’s voice cut through the haze of memories and Ray felt a pressure on his hand. His eyes snapped up to meet Ryan’s and he forced himself to take even breaths.

“Are you okay, buddy?” Geoff asked, leaning forwards in the back seat. Ray looked over his shoulder and saw Geoff and Jack’s sympathetic faces. He felt a bit sick. 

“I’m fine.” Ray said, brushing off all their concerns. He saw Jack’s expression in the rear view mirror and knew that she could see right through him. He had only opened up to one person about his old gang: Jack. He’d cried and Jack had stroked his hair, saying hushed reassurances. She’d stayed up with him all that night, letting him come to terms with everything and reminding him that he was in a safe place and he was loved. 

When he’d cried himself out, she’d wiped his tears and they had taken one of Geoff’s cars to an open-all-night diner. 

Jack’s face told him that she knew. Her hand gently squeezed his shoulder and she sat back in her seat, turning back to Geoff. She knew that if he needed her, she’d be there.

The rest of the ride back to the apartment was in silence, the only sound being the hum of the engine as Ryan tore down the empty streets. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've noticed that every fic in this series either had 1 or a multiple of 5 chapters. weird...


	6. My Lover is Strange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, the raywood section of the fic...
> 
> It was sort of inevitable...
> 
> (listen to [Strange Love by Halsey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Jo25SL56A) when reading this please)

As soon as they opened the door, Jack led Geoff by the hand back to the master bedroom (the master being Geoff) and bid them goodnight. She shot one last meaningful look at Ray and Ray knew that look.

Ryan shrugged his leather jacket off, hanging up on the coat hooks beside the door. He looked at Ray as he pulled off his skull mask.

“Want to smoke in my room?” Ryan asked, holding up a packet of cigarettes and his lighter. Ray smiled at him.

“Sure, let me get my stuff.” He said, moving past Ryan to his room. Ryan rolled his eyes and walked into his room, sitting on the floor beside the large window, cracking it open and lighting up a cigarette. Ray came in not long after and sat opposite him, a plastic bag of illegal substances in his hand.

Ryan rarely fell in love, (at least in a romantic way; it was hard to live through millennia of people and not fall in love with the way people lived) and but when he did, he usually took that as a sign that it was time to move on; that he had to leave or he’d end up hurting someone. Most of the time, that was himself. He couldn’t stay knowing that he’d always outlive them.

But with the Crew, he knew he didn’t have to run anymore. He could fall for whoever he wanted and still be surrounded by people he could live forever with. So why did it have to be with the snarky sniper?

One thing Ryan did really like about Ray was his attitude; how he only seemed to get riled up in video games. He liked how calm Ray was when their line of work was built on chaos.

He liked spending the evenings with Ray, sitting somewhere together. More often than not on the floor in one of their rooms in Geoff’s apartment, like they were then.

“Hey, can I borrow your lighter?” Ray asked, dusting his hands off and picking up his blunt.

Ryan dug into his pocket and pulled out the custom skull lighter. He flicked it open and showed Ray the flame, not moving to actually light it for him. Ray leaned over and put the edge of the blunt into fire, breathing deeply.

“Thanks Rye.” Ray said, leaning back against the edge of the bed. “You want a hit?” He asked. Ryan shook his head.

“I’d don’t want to get too high tonight.” He admitted.

“Do you mind the second hand smoke?” Ray asked.

“Nah.” Ryan said. Ray looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Is it cool if I try something?” Ray asked.

“Sure.” Ryan said, a tinge of confusion in his voice. Ray moved to where Ryan was sat and kneeled over his extended leg, perching on his thigh.

Ray put the blunt to his lips and took a deep drag. He pulled the blunt away and leaned in, running his thumb over Ryan’s bottom lip. Ray met Ryan’s eye for a second, silently asking permission, and Ryan nodded his head slightly.

Ray’s lips parted and he leaned in, pressing them against Ryan’s. Ryan breathed in, inhaling the smoke and the smell of Ray all at once. Ray pulled away, both of them breathing out the smoke in their lungs.

“Like that?” Ray asked.

“Yup. Like that.” Ryan replied, his lips curling upwards.

“Is it too late to say no homo?” Ray asked, a smirk on his face.

“Just a bit.” Ryan said.

“Cool.” Ray said, taking another drag and holding the smoke in his mouth. Ryan leaned forwards, kissing Ray and running his hands through his hair lazily.

“How high are you?” Ryan asked, pulling away to breath.

“No, silly Ryan, it’s ‘ _hi, how are you_ ’.” Ray said teasingly. It was such a stupid joke and it wasn’t even funny, but Ryan found himself just _laughing_  because it was ridiculous and Ray seemed so proud of his joke.

He didn’t even wait for Ray to take another hit, Ryan clenched the front of Ray’s hoodie and pulled him forwards, keeping him _just_  far enough away for Ray to be able to choose. Ray smirked and kissed Ryan, moving one of his legs so that he straddled him. He pushed their bodies together as Ryan’s hands wandered, settling in his hips. Ray broke the kiss, keeping their lips touching and panted, letting his breath ghost over Ryan. The simple action nearly had Ryan melting, especially when Ray ran his own hands through his hair as they kissed again.

“Keep this up and I might just fall in love with you, Ray.” Ryan teased, breaking off the kiss to breathe, his hands digging into Ray’s hips. He felt Ray tense and immediately retracted his hands, giving him his space. “Ray?”

“It’s fine, Ryan.” Ray said, forcing himself to relax his muscles. “It’s fine.”

“Was that going too far?” Ryan asked, genuinely concerned.

“No- maybe. I don’t know. This is still weird and new to me.” Ray admitted, moving so he wasn’t straddling Ryan anymore. “I like you, and I like these special make-out sessions, but you can’t go around dropping the L-bomb like that, Ryan.”

“I’m sorry, Ray.” Ryan said, his voice sincere and gentle. Ray nodded and they just sat in silence for a while.

Ryan took another cigarette out of the box and lit it, blowing a few smoke rings just to show off. He offered one to Ray and Ray took it, lighting it with Ryan’s lighter.

They just smoked in silence, trying very hard to sort through the feelings running through their minds and bubbling in their chests. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in all honesty, before I came up with an actual plot for this, I had about three scenes actually written out and this was the third so :/


	7. Falling Down Memory Lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw, this takes place the morning immediately after the last chapter. I'm saying that because there are a few small time skips in the next few chapters and I want everyone on the same page

“Jack! I got those eggs you asked for!” Gavin called, opening the door to Geoff’s apartment and letting it swing closed behind him. He had a plastic bag in one hand that swung dangerously as he walked to the kitchen area.

“Thank you, Gavin!” Jack called from somewhere down the corridor leading to the bedrooms. “How was your date with Meg?” She asked.

“It was pretty top!” Gavin said. “Where are you?!” He shouted, placing the bag on the kitchen counter and peering down the hallway.

“I’m in Geoff’s room!” Jack replied. “Actually, Gavin can you come help me for a moment!” She asked.

“Sure, Jack.” Gavin walked down the corridor and stopped outside Jack’s open door. She was balancing on a step-ladder in front of a built-into-the-all wardrobe. She was reaching into the top shelf, obviously searching for something. Gavin tapped the door with his knuckles and she turned her head to look at him.

“Hi, Gavin. Can you hold this ladder for me?” She asked, one hand gripping the edge of the wardrobe to stop herself from falling. Immortal or not, she didn’t want to crack her head from falling off a step ladder.

“‘Course,” Gavin said, walking over and holding the step ladder steady as Jack pulled something from the shelf and stepped down, carefully balancing a box in her arms. “Why are you digging around in Geoff’s wardrobe?” Gavin asked.

“Jack needs some space for her stuff.” Geoff said, walking into the room. “And I have too much stuff in there.”

“So what’s going to happen to Jack’s room?” Gavin asked, looking at the box Jack had curiously. She placed it on Geoff’s bed and Gavin subtly moved towards it.

“A guest room? Maybe a weapons room.” Jack said, wiping the dust off her hands. Geoff walked past her and pecked her cheek, climbing up the step ladder to pull down another box. “Excuse me, boys, but now that I have my eggs, I’m going to start making dinner. Geoff, don’t forget it’s your turn to cook tomorrow.”

“I won’t, Jack.” Geoff promised, looking at her over his shoulder. She smiled at both of them and left the room, leaving the door open. Gavin could vaguely hear her humming to herself softly in the kitchen.

He turned his attention to the box Jack had taken down. Gavin sat on Geoff’s bed, popped the lid off the box and peered inside.

“Geoff?” Gavin asked.

“Yeah, buddy?” Geoff asked, bringing another box down from his wardrobe. Despite the dust, he was still wearing his suit, minus the jacket and with his shirt buttons rolled up to his elbows, exposing his tattooes.

“How long have you had this hidden?” Gavin asked. Inside the box was photos. There must have been a few photo albums but the top layer was just loose pictures, some on thin photo paper, some polaroid pictures that were faded and cracked. Gavin pulled a handful out and set them on his lap, shifting through them.

“What do you have there?” Geoff asked, climbing down the ladder and walking over to Gavin. “Oh, that’s the picture box. Haven’t seen that in a while.” Geoff said, sitting down on the bed next to to Gavin, taking a few photos off him.

“I remember this.” Gavin said, holding up a black and white photo of Gavin and Geoff, both of them grinning goofily into the camera and Geoff had his arms slung around Gavin’s neck, holding him close. He remembered that night suddenly and violently. Jack had bought them a game board for the new apartment and they were playing together. It was ridiculous at the time and it was ridiculous in hindsight, but they had all sat around the board on the floor, each playing their turn. It would only be a few more years until Michael joined them.

“Oh, yeah.” Geoff said, a grin pulling at one side of his mouth. He plucked out another photo out of the pile. It was also in black and white but it showed Geoff and Jack standing together on a street. They were standing close together, their sides touching and both of them were grinning widely at the camera. Geoff could _almost_  see his hand resting on Jack’s waist in the picture. Jack’s hair was longer then and she was wearing a fashionable dress and a hat that she had one hand on to keep in place (presumably from the wind). It looked like a bit of the side of the photograph had been cut off and Geoff had a sudden memory himself cutting the photo because it had captured a man glaring at Jack and he didn’t want Jack to see.

Geoff took another pile of photos and sifted through them methodically. He paused at one of them, pulling it out of the pile and studying it.

He remembered that he was the one to take it. It was a picture of Jack, leaning back in a chair with a cigarette between her lips and smoke floating around her. Her hair was as curly as it was now and it fanned out around her head, but her clothes were distinctly 70’s. She looked like she was in the middle of a fit of laughter and Geoff felt a strange feeling of nostalgia when he remembered that night. Gavin and Michael were out of town. It was just Geoff and Jack in the apartment and he remembered picking up the camera and Jack laughing at him, telling to stop and ‘ _you better not be taking a picture of me, you son of a bitch_ ’ and how she nearly tackled him when he had taken it but he just kept laughing even as she pinned him down, trying to get the polaroid picture off him.

Gavin picked up another polaroid from the pile and saw it was a picture of himself, Michael and Ray with their arms slung around each other, each of them grinning into the camera. There was a slight glint on Michael’s and Ray’s glasses and Gavin’s sunglasses reflected the fact it was Geoff taking the picture of them. He knew it was from celebrating their first successful heist with Ray in the crew. Honestly, Gavin had forgotten this picture existed. The words ‘ _Team Lads_ ’ was sprawled across the bottom area of the polaroid and Gavin thought it looked like Geoff’s handwriting.

Gavin turned back to the box and saw the corner of a book peaking out from under some photos.

He carefully pulled out a thick photo album and held it in his lap. The cover was black leather and it had the words ‘ _The family_ ’ inscribed on it in silver. Gavin opened it to the first page.

The photo album was divided into sections and Gavin knew that the first section was his.  He may have been tipped off by seeing all the photos of his face looking into the camera with a variety of goofy faces and varying levels of stubbly facial hair.

The section after his was Michael’s, and he saw a broader mixture of expressions looking up at him. There were actually a fair few pictures of Michael not even looking at the camera, and instead looking at someone else (the ‘ _someone else_ ’ ranged from Geoff to Jack to even a complete stranger. The photos with Michael and Gavin together involved either their arms around each other dramatically, or Michael pretending to throttle Gavin while both of them laughed).

The third section was Ray’s and he didn’t look directly into the camera for a lot of them. There were some pictures of Ray with a sniper rifle (not yet hot pink), either at a gun range or in the beginnings of a heist. In an unsurprising amount of photos, he was wearing the same damn purple hoodie. There were even photos of Ray’s infamously bad hair cut. A fair few photos actually.

The fourth section was Lindsay’s and her photos looked much more dynamic than the others. In a lot of them, her hair was flying around and she even looked blurred in some photos because she had been moving around so much. There were a lot of photos of Lindsay with other people, and Gavin thought that maybe those were photos Lindsay had taken a while ago and somehow ended up in this photo album. Some of them were obviously selfies before the name for them existed. There were a lot of photos of Lindsay and Michael on dates, and a few pictures of Gavin, Michael and Lindsay in their apartment. Lindsay was smiling in almost every picture.

The last section was Ryan’s. Gavin expected it to have the least amount of photos, so it surprised him when he saw a lot of masks and face paint looking up at him from the pages. Most of his photos weren’t instant or polaroids, like the others had been. The pictures with the skull mask on usually had some sort of weapon also featured in it (there was a picture of Ryan holding two throwing knives, mid-throw with a third one sailing through the air). There was one very artistic picture of the mask on top of a small pile of ammo and the jars of face paint Ryan used.

The pictures of Ryan without his mask, always had him with his face paint on, but he always looked more relaxed than when he was wearing the mask. There were a few pictures of Ryan laughing with one of the crew, and even one with Ryan laughing so hard he was about to drop some ice cream on himself. There wasn’t a single picture of Ryan barefaced, but that wasn’t unusual. It would have been weirder if there _had_  been a picture of Ryan without anything covering his face.

“Why didn’t you tell me Jack had a photo album on us?” Gavin asked, idly flicking between the pages.

“Hm?” Geoff said, looking up from his pile of photos and glancing at the photo album in Gavin’s hands.

“Geoff, do you know what happened to my spatula? I can’t find it.” Jack asked, appearing at the door and leaning against the door frame. She still had her shorts and Hawaiian shirt on but she’d put on a novelty apron that had an image of muscular man wearing nothing but a kilt, that Ray had bought Ryan as a joke gift a long time ago. (It also happened to be the only apron any of them owned).

“It isn’t in the drawer?” Geoff said, looking up at her.

“If it was I wouldn’t be bothering you about it.” Jack said, a small amused smile on her face.

“Hey Jack, why did you tell us you a photo album with all of us in it?” Gavin interrupted, tilting the photo album so she could see the pictures on the pages.

“Photo album? I hang my pictures on the wall, Gav.” Jack said, frowning at him. “If I do have a photo album, it was probably from when it was just the three of us.” She said.

“That’s mine, Gavvy.” Geoff spoke up, taking the album off him and putting it in his own lap.

“Jack! Is this your spatula?!” Ray’s voice shouted from the direction of the kitchen. Jack leaned her head back and looked down the corridor.

“Yeah!” She called, pushing off the door frame and walking back to the kitchen. Gavin looked at Geoff and saw him slowly flicking through the pages, a strange look on his face. 

“How come Jack doesn’t have a section?” Gavin asked, watching as Geoff’s gaze lingered on a particular picture of all of them in a post-heist mini-party. That one seemed to be the most recent picture of the lot.

They were all doing something ridiculous in the photo. Gavin was wearing over-sized sunglasses; for some reason, Ray had his index fingers stuck in a Chinese finger trap; Michael was chugging one of the sauces they had in the kitchen; Lindsay was wearing an extravagant, blonde, 50’s style wig while also wearing a pair of over-sized sunglasses; Ryan was hugging a fish plushie (that Geoff hadn't seen before _or_ after that party) with no mask on and the most serene expression Geoff had ever seen on him; Jack looked like she about to fall off her chair from laughing too hard wearing what looked like a superhero cape around her shoulders. Geoff remembered that, that night he had ended up wearing a pink feather boa and his pink sunglasses with his suit. (He still didn’t know how they ended up like that and he didn’t really want to know).

“She does.” Geoff replied. “It’s in the box.” He said. Gavin turned and saw another album still in the box. He carefully pulled it out and saw that it was like the first one, except it just had Jack’s name written on the front in silver as well.

Gavin let his hand linger over it for a few seconds before he opened to the first page. It felt strange to see pictures of Jack in outfits from a time when he didn’t know who Geoff and Jack were or that they even _existed_. It felt strange to see pictures of her with stubble that she hadn’t been able to shave, or there was even a picture of her looking uncomfortable in a suit standing beside Geoff at what looked like a formal setting. The more pictures he searched through, the more he began to recognise _his_  Jack. There was more light in her eyes and more and more pictures of Jack in traditionally ‘ _female_ ’ clothing and smiling brightly while wearing them.

It felt surreal in the weirdest way to be able to look through these pictures. He knew they used to be much more expensive, so the fact that there were a _lot_  of them told him much more than the photos did. 

“Do you ever wish it was just you and Jack again?” Gavin asked, looking up at Geoff.

“What? No.” Geoff said immediately, frowning at him. He slung an arm around Gavin’s neck, holding him close. “Why’d you think that, buddy?” Gavin shrugged under the weight of his arm.

“Just wondering.” Gavin said quietly.

“Gavin.” Geoff said, his tone of voice making Gavin look up at him. “You guys are my family. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Gavin just nodded and turned the page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this might actually end up being longer than part 8 of the series... 
> 
> no regrets


	8. Lonely Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> three active ongoing projects and I start school in a week. Yay

Ryan sat by his window again, a small ashtray beside him and an almost empty carton of cigarettes beside the ashtray. Geoff had told him off for cigarette burns on his carpet, so Ryan carefully flicked off the ask into the ashtray.

His window was open and he watched the air pull the smoke away from him.

Ray was in his own room, Michael and Gavin were back at the Jones’ apartment as far as he knew, and Lindsay was out. Jack and Geoff were in the apartment somewhere but he didn’t want to bother them just because he was a bit lonely. Actually, wasn’t Geoff meeting someone about a job for the girls? Or had that been hours ago?

Ryan pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. Unless Geoff liked to work at 2am, his meeting was probably over.

He briefly entertained the thought of calling Meg and Ashley, but chances were at 2am, they were asleep as well.

He stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking and automatically lit another one. Ryan hated nights like this; when he felt too restless to sleep and too alone to go out and do something. Usually, Ray would be awake as well and they’d play video games or get high or just talk. But Ray was out of the question right now. He knew there was something wrong but Ray wouldn’t talk to him about it, so he gave him his space. This wasn’t the first time something like had happened.

Ryan’s phone rang and he picked it up, frowning as he saw Lindsay’s name under the words ‘ _incoming call_ ’.

“Lindsay?” Ryan asked, putting the phone to his ear.

“ _Hey Rye-bread._ ” Lindsay said, her voice giggly and obviously more than tipsy. “ _Can you pick us up?_ ”

“Where are you?” Ryan asked, flicking the ash off his cigarette into the ashtray.

“ _We’re at a bar_.” Lindsay said.

“Which bar?” Ryan asked, putting out the cigarette. His phone pinged and he looked at the screen. Lindsay had sent him a picture of the bar’s neon sign. Luckily, he knew where it was. “Okay, I’ll come pick you up.” He said, hanging up the phone.

The apartment was dark and silent as he walked through, pulling on his leather jacket and shoes. His mask was on the coffee table and his hand had just closed around it when he saw two people on the sofa. They were asleep and he let his eyes adjust to the low-light so he could see who they were.

The first thing his eyes saw was Jack resting her head on the arm of the sofa, her arm around the second sleeping figure. Geoff. It was almost strange to see him in jeans and a t-shirt. Ryan pulled a blanket from where it fell on the floor and draped it over them.

He put his mask on, grabbed his keys and left the apartment as quietly as he could.

Ryan always liked fast cars, ever since they were invented. He liked watching the world blur around him, hearing the tires on the road. He also liked driving at night. One thing he didn’t miss about the past was the darkness. He used to like looking up at the stars, but he didn’t like empty roads and dark houses when the candles or gas lamps ran out.

Lindsay and Mica were stood outside the bar like they’d said and Ryan coasted until he stopped in front of them, rolling down the window.

“You ladies need a ride?” Ryan asked, peering out the window at them. Lindsay laughed and slid into the passenger seat. Mica followed her lead, climbing gracefully into the back seat of the car.

“Thank you, sir.” Mica said, settling into her seat. She spoke with a lilt in her voice that was playful and Ryan felt himself warming up to her already.

“No problem, where to?” He asked them, slowly pulling away from the curb.

“Back to my apartment, I think.” Mica said. “I’ll tell you where it is.”

Ryan followed Mica’s instructions and pulled to a stop outside a nice-looking apartment block. Mica got out and Lindsay made to, but Ryan put his hand on her arm.

“Actually, Lindsay, can we talk?” Ryan asked. He turned his head to look at Mica and nodded at her. “Good night, Ms Burton.” He said politely.

“Okay, ‘night Mr Vagabond.” Mica said, her gaze passing to Lindsay in a question.

“We still on for tomorrow?” Lindsay asked, smiling at her. Mica seemed to relax at that and smiled as well.

“Sure.” Mica promised, walking back to the apartment building. Ryan waited until she had entered before driving off.

“So where are we going, Ryan?” Lindsay asked, looking out the window at the city passing them by.

“I Just wanted to ask you when the last time you went back to your apartment was? We practically haven’t seen you since the heist.” Ryan admitted. “It’s been too quiet in the apartment.” He added, a smile on his face under the mask.

“I’ve just been out with Mica. She’s not in town for much longer and I haven’t seen her since we were in prison.” Lindsay admitted. “We were really close. We were Cracker and Blacker; unstoppable.”

“I’m assuming this was before my time?” Ryan said, glancing over at her as he drove.

“Way before your time.” Lindsay said, smiling at him. “We were great, but she didn’t want to join the Crew permanently. Geoff hired her for a few jobs, but she liked working alone.”

“And you miss her.” Ryan said. It wasn’t a question and Lindsay didn’t take it as one.

“Yeah.” She sighed.

“So, do you want to sleep at Geoff’s apartment or your own?” Ryan asked, sensing the change in her mood.

“Geoff’s.” Lindsay said. Ryan just nodded and drove them back, turning on the radio so the late-night stations could fill the silence. 


	9. Rare Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I start sixth form this week and I don't want to go :(  
> that being said, I won't be able to update as frequently during school time

Michael knocked on the door to the master bedroom hesitantly. The answering shout was a bit startling.

“FOR FUCKS SAKE RAY THEY’RE IN THE BATHROOM UNDER THE SINK I’VE TOLD YOU THIS A MILLION TIMES!” A voice that could only be Geoff’s shouted through the door. Michael could faintly hear the sounds of someone trying to stifle a laugh.

“It’s Michael: I just wanted to talk to Jack. Have you seen her anywhere?” Michael called through the door.

“This really isn’t a good time, Michael!” Geoff called back to him.

“What the fuck, Geoff! Just tell me if you’ve seen her at all today and I’ll go, Jesus Christ!” Michael almost shouted.

“Michael, can you give us another half an hour and then we can talk.” A second voice said, much more calmly than either Michael or Geoff. It took a few seconds for it to register that that was Jack’s voice.

“Geoff, you could have just said you were banging, Jesus.” Michael snapped, storming out back to the living room.

Inside the room, Geoff was dying of embarrassment while Jack kept laughing, feeling tears in her eyes.

 

Forty minutes later, Jack walked into the living room, looking as put together as if she going to a business meeting. She sat next to Michael, crossing her ankles automatically and sitting up with her back straight and hands in her lap. She forced herself to relax after she realised a few seconds later. Some habits were hard to break.

“What took you so long?” Michael asked, a teasing smile on his face. “Did Geoff take too long?”

“Do you _really_  want this conversation, Michael?” Jack asked, a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Hey, we’re all adults here.” Michael protested, a challenging smirk on her face.

“Okay then. Geoff didn’t take long at all once I got going.” Jack said, her voice level. “At least not the first time. The second time, though, I might have broke him.”

“Jack, stop lying about me!” Geoff shouted from down the corridor to them.

“Then why don’t you come in here and prove me wrong?” Jack challenged. Michael could _hear_  the embarrassed blush in the following silence.

“You know what, Jack, you were right. I take it back, I don’t want to talk about you fucking Geoff to breaking point.” Michael said.

“Good, I didn’t think that’s what you wanted to talk about.” Jack said. “So what is it, Michael?” She said gently, patting his knee. He took a few seconds to collect his thoughts and he opened his mouth to start speaking, but his jaw snapped shut when the door opened.

Jack looked over to the door and saw Gavin pulling his shoes off. A stern expression fell over her face and she stood up, folding her arms over her chest.

“Michael Jones, you said that you would help me get supplies for the Crew and I expect you to go through with that.” She said, half-frowning, half-glaring at Michael. He looked at her in confusion. “Come on, we’re going right now. No excuses.” Jack commanded, just short of physically pulling him to his feet. Michael finally caught on and stood up, following Jack out the apartment. She led him down to the garage and slid into one of the Crew’s faster cars, waiting until he put his seatbelt on.

Jack drove them through the streets and Michael actually wondered for a moment if he _did_  agree to go shopping with her. She didn’t look away from the road, actually driving carefully until she got to a empty overhang somewhere on the road to Mt. Chiliad. It was only then that she cut off the engine and sat back in her seat, looking over at Michael.

“So what was bothering you?” She asked, her voice soft and caring. Michael sighed and ran his hands through his unruly curls.

“Gavin’s been on a date every night this week.” Michael said. “He hasn’t stayed the night since they showed up, or even been round for bevs. And Lindsay’s been out with Mica all the time too so she’s hardly been home. And you and Geoff have finally gotten together and I think Ray and Ryan are going through a tough time. It just feels like everything’s changing too much in such a short time.”

Jack nodded thoughtfully, turning her body so she was facing Michael more.

“Have you said this to anyone else?” Jack asked. Michael shook his head. Jack nodded and settled back in her seat, looking out the windshield at the scenery.

“Nineteen-twenty-nine.” Jack said, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“Nineteen-twenty-nine, in October, I think it was. We all knew something was happening, something really _bad_. Geoff had left me at home with Gavin as he tried to find someone who knew what was happening. I remember when we were in that apartment, Gavin was much calmer than I thought he would be. He said to me that he was old, and that he’d seen so many disasters that this was just another one to him. But to Geoff, that was a scary day. He’d seen wars and he’d survived them, but this wasn’t something he could control the outcome of, so he was afraid. A few years ago, I was out with Ryan and I asked him if he remembered that day. He said he barely took any notice.” Jack said. She sounded nearly whimsical and her eyes became unfocused for a second as she talked. “Michael, what do you remember about that day?” She asked, rolling her head to look at him.

“I remember holding Lindsay as we waited for news. I knew no matter what, that _I’d_  be okay, but I knew that something could still happen to Lindsay. I didn’t know she was- that she is immortal too.” Michael said. “It…”

“It felt like the end of the world.” Jack said, finishing his thought.

“Kinda, yeah.” Michael admitted, looking up at Jack.

“Do you remember a few decades ago when America and Russia nearly blew each other up over a small island?” Jack asked. “Those days when everyone thought the world would end in a nuclear war. And we were all sat in the apartment, drinking cheap wine until we couldn’t hold a conversation.”

“I know.” Michael said, frowning at her. “Jack, where are you going with this?”

“I trying to tell you that every massive change or end-of-the-world scenario we’ve faced, we haven’t been alone. Not for a long time. And we aren’t alone now.” Jack said. “Because I know that’s what’s actually bothering you, Michael. No matter what happens, you’ll always have people here to support you. Even if Gavin goes steady with Meg or Lindsay goes out more with Mica or Ryan and Ray break up or something happens between Geoff and me, we’ll still always have a network of people to support us. And hey,” She said, patting Michael’s knee. “I’m always going to be here if you need to talk.”

Michael smiled at her weakly.

“It’s just- Everything was _good_. Nothing had to change, Jack.” He said.

“Think of it this way, Michael: if things didn’t ever change, we wouldn’t even know each other. It was the Wall Street Crash that made you start doing crime, and it was crime that led you to my fight and to Geoff and Gavin too.” Jack said. Michael stared at her for a minute, weighing up her words.

“God dammit, Jack, why do you have to be smart like that.” Michael grumbled, leaning back in his seat. Jack just laughed and turned the engine back on, beginning to reverse so they were back on the road.

“Come on, let’s go get some milkshakes. I’m hungry.” Jack said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> looks like my A in history GCSE finally came in handy


	10. Installing A Patch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is officially the longest in the series and it's not even close to being finished  
> AND I have an idea for a really badass bit but that doesn't happen for _ages_ so I've annoyed myself :(

The knock at the door was light, so when Ashley opened the door, she didn’t expect to see Ryan on the other side. He looked very much like the last time they’d seen him; relaxed, in jeans and a bit too tight shirt. He wasn’t wearing his mask or face paint but his hair was now much longer and had been dyed black and was tied back in a ponytail.

“Hey Ashley.” Ryan greeted, standing in the doorway awkwardly. It was like he felt unwanted. 

“Hey Ryan.” Ashley said brightly, opening the door more and stepping to the side to let him in. Ryan stepped over the threshold and followed Ashley to the small kitchen. Meg was sat at a table, a cup of coffee and book in her hands. She looked up at Ryan and beamed at him.

“Hey Ryan.” She said. “Still wearing the dad jeans, huh?” Meg said cheekily.

“They’re comfy.” Ryan said, sitting down on a chair opposite her.

“Want some breakfast, Ryan?” Ashley said, walking past them to the stove. She poured a ladle of pancake batter onto a frying pan.

“I already ate.” Ryan said. Geoff had cooked breakfast for the Crew that morning and Jack had insisted every should have some (not that any of them really needed persuading, really).

“Coffee?” Meg asked, gesturing to the coffee machine with her mug.

“I could go for some coffee.” Ryan said, standing up and pouring himself some.

“So you’ll take Meg’s coffee but not my pancakes? Ryan, I’m _insulted_.” Ashley teased, putting her hand over her heart dramatically. Ryan chuckled and sat back down with his coffee, taking a small sip.

“So, are you excited for your ladies night out tonight?” Ryan asked.

“ _So_  excited.” Meg said, grinning at him.

Ashley made the pancakes and put a plate in front of Meg, bringing her own to another chair. Ryan suddenly remembered mornings like this, the three of them and Gus drinking coffee and eating whatever the person who had the most energy had cooked that day.

“Remind you of old times?” Ashley said, knowing Ryan’s unfocused expression was one of reminiscence.

“A lot’s changed.” Ryan said, having another drink of his coffee.

“Was the Crew everything you expected?” Meg asked, her book beside her coffee mug as she ate. Ryan nodded slowly.

“Geoff’s a good boss and it’s always a guaranteed cut.” Ryan said. “And the rest of the crew’s great. They all have their strengths and they play to them.”

“And I guess; more people, bigger jobs and a bigger cut.” Ashley said.

“For the most part.” Ryan agreed.  “There are some drawbacks. You have to watch six other people’s backs as well as you own.”

“Don’t you go into teams for jobs?” Meg asked. “Gavin kept going on about team names.” Ryan smiled as he sipped his coffee. He also filed away the knowledge that Gavin was chatty with Meg on their dates.

“Sometimes.” Ryan said. “The team names make planning easier.”

“So what teams are you in?” Ashley asked, pouring some syrup on her pancakes.

“A few, actually.” Ryan said, leaning back in his chair. “There’s a team name for whoever gets paired up frequently.”

“That’s smart.” Ashley said. “Who came up with the teams?”

“Gavin, mostly. He came up with a lot of the names. But Geoff’s the one that pairs everyone. ” Ryan admitted. “You’re asking a lot of questions about the Crew.” He said.

“It’s not everyday you get to hear about the Fake AH Crew personally.” Meg said. “Excuse us for being a bit nosey.” Ryan nodded in understanding.

“Well, what have you been up to? Where’s Grif?” Ryan asked.

“Grif said she had to meet with someone. And since Gus left and you joined the Crew, we’ve been in LA. The only reason we’re back is because someone offered us a few easy jobs.” Meg admitted. “It was just bad luck that we ended up in jail.”

“And good luck that Jack helped us get out.” Ashley said. Ryan frowned at her.

“ _Jack_  helped you?” Ryan repeated. Meg and Ashley exchanged a look.

“You didn’t know?” Meg said.

“No.” Ryan said. “She didn’t say.”

“She sent me a letter in prison with a code that told us how to get out. She said it was her promise because I gave her those little knives I made.” Ashley said. Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment.

“How’d you meet Grif?” Ryan asked.

“She was already in jail by the time we got there, and she basically showed us the ropes.” Meg said.

“That’s what Jack said about you.” Ryan commented, a small smile on his face. “Funny how that works.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to upload this because I just finished my first official day of sixth form and I feel happy :D


	11. Saying Goodbye For The Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some super fluff before shit hits the fan because I'm having way too much fun with this fic :3
> 
> Also, sixth form is difficult so updates _may_ be less frequent but I guess we'll just have to see

Lindsay had dragged Jack into her room _hours_  ago, saying that if they were going out with the girls, ‘ _Jack is wearing something club appropriate_ ’. The others had been too amused to really protest (though Jack protested. _Loudly_ ).

They could hear Jack’s protesting from where they were in the living room. The Lads were sat on the floor around the large coffee table, playing some old card game Gavin was trying to teach them (which he was losing at, despite the _years_  of practice he had over them - if only he could see the cards Michael and Ray were hiding). Geoff was idly flicking between channels, paying more attention to the Lad’s bickering and occasionally telling them to ‘ _shut the hell up, I’m trying to watch_ ’. Ryan’s attention was on the book in his hands. It was one of Gavin’s first editions and Ryan had to swear on all his weapons that he would be careful with it. The pages were tainted yellow with age but Gavin had taken care of it enough to keep it in good nick and Ryan found himself actually enjoying the old story.

About an hour before Jack and Lindsay were meant to meet the other women, Lindsay strutted into the living room proudly. She was dressed in a long shirt and jeans with heels that probably made her the second tallest in the room. Lindsay always knew how to dress up for a party. She cleared her throat and every head turned to her.

“Proudly presenting: _Jack Pattillo_!” Lindsay said, gesturing to the corridor. Jack stepped out and Lindsay beamed at her.

Lindsay had done a great job, in all fairness. Jack’s hair was pinned back in a french plait with two curled locks of hair framing her face. Her lipstick was dark and for the first time in their memory, Jack had winged eyeliner on. But it was her outfit that stunned them the most. Her dress was low-cut and black and stopped mid-thigh; made all the more impressive by the heels Lindsay had leant her (read: forced her into because they matched the dress perfectly).

“So, what do you think?” Lindsay asked, looking at their faces.

“Jack, I need to talk to you, right now.” Geoff said urgently, standing up and grabbing Jack’s hand to lead her back down the hallway. The sounds of the others laughing followed them and Geoff heard Lindsay shout for him to ‘ _not mess up her outfit, for fucks sake, it took forever to put together_ ’.

Geoff dragged Jack into their bedroom and shut the door.

“Holy shit, you look amazing.” He said, crowding Jack with her back to the wall. His hands went around her waist and her arms looped around his neck. “Like, really fucking beautiful.”

“Now you know how I feel when you roll the sleeves up on your shirts.” Jack said, hovering her painted lips _just_  over his. “But you heard Lindsay: I can’t mess up my hair and makeup now.” She had a smirk on her face and Geoff groaned in frustration.

“You’re killing me, Jack.” Geoff complained. She just laughed and ran one hand through his hair.

“I didn’t say anything about when I get back.” Jack said.

“But that’s not for _hours_.” Geoff whined, sliding his hands down the sides of her dress. It was tight enough to show off her curves and Geoff could feel the bit of fat on her stomach and thighs. He pressed a soft kiss to her neck and she felt his stubble lightly scratch her skin.

“Well we waited a century, I’m sure a few hours won’t hurt.” Jack said.

“We were dumbasses to wait a century in the first place.” Geoff pointed out.

“Our focus was on our career, what can we say?” Jack said, shrugging. She kissed his cheek, aware that she was wearing make up that wasn’t to cover up bruises, for a change. “We have to leave soon. Can’t keep them waiting.”

“One for the road.” Geoff said, pecking her lips. Jack let him kiss him but pulled away quickly.

“A few hours won’t kill you.” Jack said, pushing her body against Geoff’s and traced small circles on his scalp with the tips of her fingers. Geoff took a deep breath and half-glared at her.

“ _You_ might, you son of a bitch.” He said, only a little annoyed. Not that you would know with the smile on his face.

“You love it.” Jack smirked and retracted one hand from Geoff’s neck to search for the door handle. “Let’s not give them any more gossip.”

“They'll gossip anyway.” Geoff said, but he let her slip out the room. Jack smoothed down her dress and Geoff slid his hand into hers.

They walked back to the where the others were and Jack caught the look Ryan shot them.

“Ready to go, Jack?” Lindsay asked, a knowing look on her face.

“Yep.” Jack said, collecting her purse and holding it in her hand securely. She looked at the men all sat on the sofas and floor. “Have fun while we’re out. Try not to kill each other. Oh, Ryan, at some point you need to clean the bathroom. All that shit in there is your face paint and you know it.” She looked at him sternly when Ryan opened his mouth automatically to protest.

“Yes ma’am.” Ryan said, looking up from the book he was reading and nodding. He had the vague feeling that he was being told off.

Jack beamed at him and stood in front of Geoff. She looked at him, her expression softening momentarily.

“Don't wait up for us.” She said.

“But then how will you keep your promise?" Geoff asked, smiling at her slyly.

“Good point.” Jack said. “There's always the morning.” She leaned down and gently gave him a chaste kiss (ignoring Gavin’s gagging noises behind them), moving to leave with Lindsay.

“Hey where’s our kiss?” Ray asked jokingly. He didn't expect Jack to walk over and lightly kiss the top of his head. Nor did he expect her to do the same to Michael, who pretended to bat her away, and the same to Gavin, who squawked and ducked his head. Jack walked past Ryan and quickly kissed the top of his head, smirking at his confused expression.  

Finally, Jack kissed the top of Lindsay’s head just because she could.

“Be good, and we’ll be back later.” Jack said, giving the group a one handed wave. (Sometimes she really understood why the rest of the Crew made parent jokes.)

“See you later mum!” Gavin called jokingly.

“Bye Gavvy.” Jack said, shutting the door behind them.

“Aww, I'm the favourite.” Gavin said smugly.

“No way.” Ray protested, only semi-seriously.

“Yeah, why would you be the favourite?” Michael half-demanded, playing along.

“Because I've been around longer. I'm Lad Prime.” Gavin said proudly.

“Bullshit, you’re not the eldest. Ryan is.” Michael protested.

“I like to think I'm the cool uncle.” Ryan mused, not looking up from his book.

“You're not the cool uncle.” Geoff said, chuckling at the idea. “You're a Lad at heart.”

“I'm thousands of years older than all of you!” Ryan protested.

“So you _are_ the eldest son.” Ray pointed out.

“Boys, _boys_ ; Jack and I love you all equally.” Geoff said, changing the channel on the TV with an amused look on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> headcanon that FAHC Jack will always sacrifice looks for comfort unless she has to (thus explaining the shirt)


	12. Ladies of The Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll here and I have homework I don't want to do :P
> 
>  
> 
> ~~(it's at 20k words and I don't know how)~~

“Thanks for inviting us out, Grif.” Meg said, getting back to the booth with the tray of drinks.

The nightclub they were in was one Geoff had his name on the deed of, but never cared about. It was spacious, with a lot of dance floor and a long bar stretching the length of an entire wall. Booths lined the edges and when they arrived, the bouncer had taken one look at Jack and Lindsay and pointed them to a roped off VIP booth in the corner. It had impressed the other three, to say the least.

It was dark but the flashing club lights were bright enough to see each other over the table.

“We needed a new excuse to go out.” Grif said, shrugging as she took her drink from the tray.

“You know, I don’t think we’ve ever had a girls night out with just us, Jack.” Lindsay said, delicately drinking her cocktail.

“We always go out with everyone.” Jack agreed.

“Well I’m glad we’re here for your first girls night.” Meg said, holding out her glass to clink it against Jack’s. There was a nice warm feeling in Jack’s chest whenever one of the others included her in the ‘ _girls_ ’ talk.

They talked idly, swapping compliments and Lindsay basked in the praise she got for her work with altering Jack’s appearance, if only for the night. Jack just rolled her eyes, but it was nice to have an excuse to dress night that wasn’t work related. There were only so many coordinated outfits the crew could get away with.

“So what was it like knowing Ryan before he got the mask?” Jack asked Meg.

“Well he hasn’t changed much.” Meg admitted. “If you want some funny stories on him though, _that_  I can help you with.” She said as she dug around in her purse for her phone and pulled up her photos. It took her a few seconds to find the one she was looking for and when she did, she turned the phone around so that Jack could see.

It took everything in her to not spit out her drink.

Ryan was posed in the picture, Charlie’s Angel style, next to Meg with a gun in his hand pointing at the ceiling of where they were. He had no face paint on, his dyed black hair was either much shorter or hidden by his beanie and he had a goofy smile on his face. That wasn’t even the best thing about the photo. Somehow, either Meg or Ashley had convinced him to wear a leather, skin-tight catsuit. Jack could practically hear the rest of the Crew’s laughter.

Jack noticed the differences in Meg looked as well. She had red hair and her expression was serious, but serious in the way that an actress playing a serious character would look.

“Lindsay, have you seen this?” Jack said, laughing at the ridiculousness of the photo. She’d seen Ryan do some ridiculous things, but she would  _never_  have expected him to dress up as a Bond girl.

Lindsay leaned over and laughed so suddenly at the photo that someone nearby gave her a weird look.

“Can you send me that?” Lindsay asked, pointing to the phone. “I need that for the next time I need Ryan to do something.”

“You think blackmailing the Vagabond is a good idea?” Grif asked.

“I think a few weeks ago I saw Ryan and Geoff crying at the TV together, sharing ice cream, so he isn’t that dangerous to us.” Lindsay said. Jack looked at her in surprise.

“Where was I?” She asked.

“You were out with Gavin and Ray, I think.” Lindsay said.

“Oh that's right.” Jack said, sipping her drink.

 

“So how’s the job planning?” Meg asked, sipping her cocktail.

“Geoff’s still trying to find one.” Jack admitted. “He’s been given a few options, so he’s just working out all the details for the _perfect_  job.”

“What sort of job is he thinking of?” Meg said.

“A few quick jobs. Robbing convenience stores, mostly.” Jack admitted. “Just to see if you’re as good as Ryan boasts.”

“Ryan talks about us?” Ashley asked, chipping in to the conversation.

“He does when the Lads pester him for information.” Jack said, a warm smile on her face. It _was_  true, but Ryan was willing to offer information to anyone if he was in a good mood.

“You know, Jack,” Meg said. “We could just do a job now. I mean, we’re getting a little low on funds anyway, and you _do_  need to see how we work.”

“What do you have in mind?” Jack asked. She was aware that everyone at the table was now in on the conversation. Meg looked over at Grif expectantly and Grif pulled out a piece of paper from her bag.

“Two convenience stores.” Grif said, spreading the paper on the table. It was a small map of the local area and there were red lines and small notes drawn over it. “We go in pairs and one person stays in the car. The first team hits the first store, get back in the car and then the second team gets the next store. The driver picks them up, and we lose the cops.”

“Pretty simple.” Lindsay said. She was memorising the map and the red notes placed all over it.

“I know it's not really your style, but we won’t have time for a cargobob. That’s the next job.” Grif said teasingly.

“Simple but efficient.” Ashley said, looking over the map as well.

“We could do it.” Jack admitted. “Who would be on the teams?” She asked, looking at Grif.

“Lindsay and Meg, Ashley and I, and Jack would drive, if the rumours about your skill are true.” Grif said, looking up at Jack.

“They’re true.” Lindsay promised. “But Jack’s a better pilot than a driver.”

“So we _should_  get the cargobob, is what you’re saying.” Meg said, smiling at the joke.

“It would make the night more entertaining.” Jack said, finishing her drink.

“So are we doing this? Now?” Ashley asked, looking around at the others.

“I don’t see why not.” Meg said. “We just need masks.”

“Ryan keeps some in the car.” Jack said. “If we’re doing this, we should do it soon.”

 

“We did it. Drive, Jack.” Meg urged, climbing into the back seat. It was impressive how active she was in such a tight dress. Out of the bag of spare masks Ryan had left in Jack’s car, Meg had chosen one that looked like a China doll. Dollface was _back_.

Lindsay clamoured in the back seat as well and Jack put the car in gear. She’d chosen an owl mask that Gavin had bought for a job and tore it off as soon as she had shut the door.

Jack drove as quickly as she could and pulled up just as Ashley and Grif ran out, jumping into the car. Ashley had a tabby cat mask on covering her face while Grif had chosen an scuffed up hockey mask for the job. Both Meg and Lindsay had sat in the seats next to the window, and when Ashley jumped into the car, she’d practically dived into the middle seat in her haste.

The sounds of sirens began to reach them as Jack drove and she pulled up a screen  from the dashboard. 

“We’ve got two stars.” She said, seeing their photos pop up on the screen with two of the five stars coloured in beside them.

“Get off the highway, we can lose them.” Grif said, turning around in her seat and looking out the back window. She pulled the mask off and dropped it into her footwell.

“Still got ammo?” Jack asked, glancing in the rear view mirror.

“Got it, Jack.” Lindsay said, reloading her gun and twisting her arm out of the window to shoot at the police cars behind them. Meg and Ashley exchanged a look and reloaded their own pistols.

“Is it okay if I shoot out the back window?” Ashley asked, turning around so she was kneeling on the seat and aiming carefully but not firing.

“Go for it,” Jack said, turning the car sharply. “Just don’t shoot someone inside the car.”

“Inside the police car?!” Ashley repeated, confused and slightly alarmed at the statement.

“No, inside _this_  car.” Lindsay clarified.

“Why would we shoot someone inside the car?” Meg asked, firing at the police car windows, trying to take out the drivers.

“You’d be surprised.” Jack said, turning a corner. Lindsay’s aim never strayed from the police car. Years of erratic driving does that to a person’s aim. It took a few more minutes before the sounds of sirens faded into nothing.

“I think we lost them.” Ashley said, turning back around in her seat and finally pulling off her mask.

“They didn’t know who they were dealing with.” Grif said, smugly as she rifled through the bag of money they had just stolen.

“What’s that?” Lindsay said, leaning forwards and pointing at a smudge further down the road.

“I don’t know.” Jack admitted, beginning to move out of their way. The closer they got, the clearer the figure got. Jack didn’t see them lift a RPG to their shoulder and aim. Grif did.

“WATCH OUT!” Grif shouted. Jack reacted quickly, pulling the steering wheel sharply.

Later, Jack would realise the grenade was never aimed for them; it was aimed for the ground underneath to them. It was the explosion that caused them to flip over.

There was a few seconds when the car just kept turning, glass flying about everywhere.

It finally settled (by some major stroke of luck that Jack thanked _all_  the deities Ryan had told her about for) with all four wheels on the ground.

Jack didn’t give them time to recover before she was driving off, pushing for the top speed in the busted up car.

“Is everyone alright?” Jack asked, shifting gear and getting back onto a main road. The sooner they got back to a safe house, the better.

“We’re okay.” Meg said, one arm around Ashley.

“I’m good.” Grif said, brushing off bits of glass from herself.

“Lindsay?” Jack asked. There was a few seconds of silence and Jack felt her panic spike. “Lindsay?!” Jack repeated, turning in her seat to look at Lindsay.

Lindsay was awake, but her eyes were unfocused and Jack saw a deep gash along her collarbone. She weakly lifted her hand and Jack knew she had to hurry.

“Jack, look out!” Ashley shouted, grabbing Jack’s shoulders and forcing her to look at the road.

A second figure was standing in the road, another RPG aimed right at them.

Years of life and experience let Jack know they were _fucked_. She didn’t have enough time to swerve and the no matter what she did, the car was too close to the RPG to avoid being blown up.

“Hang on.” Jack said, trying to swerve anyway. She saw the weapon be fired and threw herself over Grif. Out of everyone in the car, the only person who she didn’t know was immortal was Grif.

The grenade hit the car and Jack felt the heat of the explosion before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“Oh my god!”_   
>  _“Someone call 911!”_   
>  _“Are they alright?”_   
>  _“Who the hell was in that car?”_   
>  _“Hey, who’s that on the road?”_   
>  _“He’s holding something.”_   
>  _“Is that the ambulance? I can’t hear any sirens.”_   
>  _“HEY! What are you doing?!”_   
>  _“OH FUCK HE’S GOT A GRENADE!”_   
>  _“.......”_   
>  _“.......”_   
>  _“.......”_   
>  _“Get the van. I’ve got the girls.”_   
> 


	13. Rude Awakenings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished my first week of sixth form so here, celebrate with me :3

Geoff changed the channel again, settling for some sitcom re-run that was amusing enough to sit through. Ryan had finished the book and was now passively watching the show with Geoff, making idle comments every so often.

After losing nearly $500 (and around 100 British pounds) with the card game, the Lads put the cards down and settled down at the gaming den in the corner of the room (meaning Gavin got upset so Ryan told them about the mod he’d installed and told them to go nuts). They kept talking to each other, coordinating with each other and yelling when they died or got spooked by another player or NPC.

The show on the TV screen cut away to a news segment. A serious looking news presenter was on screen, shuffling papers.

“ _A car that is believed to belong to the notorious gang known as the ‘_ Fake AH Crew _’ was found on the highway in flames. Emergency services arrived to find no one at the scene, but there was no one in the vehicle. It is unclear if this is a stunt pulled by the gang as some sort of distraction or not. However, several bodies of nearby civilians have been found near the scene, but it still is unclear which, if any, of the members of the crew were involved-_ ”

The news story had everyone in the room’s attention.

“That’s Jack’s car.” Gavin said, pulling his headphones off and standing up to look at the TV screen clearly. Ray and Michael did the same, moving so they were stood behind the sofa.

“ _Lindsay._ ” Michael breathed, watching the footage of the wreck like he was almost hypnotised. He blinked and snapped out of it. “I’m going to see if they’re still near there. Maybe they hid from the police nearby.” Michael said, grabbing his car keys. He grabbed his jacket off the hooks and pulled it on quickly.

“I’ll go with you.” Ryan said, taking (but not bothering to put on) his mask before he followed Michael out of the room. The door shut with the sense of finality that had a lot of weight to it.  

“ _Son of a bitch_.” Geoff hissed, still sat on the sofa. “I’m going to have to buy Jack a new car. She loved that car.” He said, more annoyed that concerned.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Ray asked, not looking away from the TV screen.

“Jack bloody loved that car.” Gavin agreed. The attempt at humour fizzled out pretty quickly as the image of the burning car stayed on the TV.

 

By the time Michael and Ryan got there, the car had been doused but the news channels were still there, talking into cameras to faceless people.

“Take one of the earpieces.” Ryan said, holding two in his hand out to Michael as he parked the car a few streets away. They knew there wasn’t anyone left in the car, so the only place they could check was surrounding streets. Michael took one of the earpieces and put it in his ear, adjusting the sound while Ryan put his own in and slid his mask on over his face.

The men split up and searched the nearby back alleys, staying out of the way of the cameras and civilians. It was still the middle of the night, and searching through back alleys without a torch wasn’t the easiest thing.

Michael saw a shape moving in the shadows. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the torch function as quickly as he could. Bright light nearly blinded both of them. The person blinked a few times in the sudden light and Michael felt himself breathe out in relief.

“Meg?” Michael said. He immediately pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her. The little black dress she had on didn’t look very warm. “Holy _shit_ , are you okay? Where are the others?”

“ _You found Meg?_ ” Ryan asked over the comm.

“Yeah, Ryan, she’s with me.” Michael said to his comm. He turned back to look at her. “Meg, are you okay?” He said. She nodded slowly at him.

Meg looked like Hell. Her hair had been messed up and was matted with bits of dirt and some blood (Michael didn’t want to think about who it belonged to). Her dress had been ripped in some places and he could see that her bag was torn from where it lay on the ground near them.

“What happened to the others?” Michael asked slowly.

“The- The car blew up.” Meg finally managed to say. Her voice was a bit scratchy and Michael sympathised with her. Whatever had happened _wasn’t_  nice. “They took them.”

“Wait, someone took them? Who took them?” Michael asked.

“I don’t know.” Meg said. “I don’t know. I just remember the car was going to be blown up so I jumped out, but I don't think I was fast enough. I think I hit my head on the street and I might have blacked out for a minute and when I came to, Grif was running away so I crawled over here and I _saw_  them take them. They just took their bodies.”

“They’ll respawn.” Michael said surely. He heard more sirens far off into the distance.  “Look, we need to get back to the apartment. You can tell us more when we get back there.”

Michael helped Meg get to her feet, handing her the torn bag when she was stood. He kept one hand on her arm and one on her back as he quickly led her back to where he had parked the car. Ryan was stood beside the car, looking out over the road where the car  was beginning to be cleared. He looked up as Michael walked Meg back. One hand reached up and pulled his mask off as he surged forwards. He held the mask in his grip as he pulled Meg into a fierce hug.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked quietly. His free hand began smoothing down her hair but stopped when he felt the foreign material stuck to it. Meg’s arms wrapped around him, burying her face in his chest. Michael realised how much shorter Meg was then Ryan in that moment.

“Someone took them.” Meg said, her voice muffled by Ryan’s shirt material. “Ashley, Jack, Lindsay… They’re gone.”

“It’s okay, Meg.” Ryan promised. “We’ll find them and we’ll get them back.”

“Ryan, we have to go.” Michael said. The sirens got closer and Ryan just nodded. He opened the back seat door and helped Meg into the seat, going around and sitting in the back with her. Michael took the driver’s seat.

He shouldn’t have been driving that quickly that late at night with the police out, but Michael did drive fast and reckless, and it would have taken a lot for him to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the cliffhanger the last chapter...


	14. In A State of Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very short chapter, sorry...

Lindsay’s eyes snapped open.

She was more _aware_  of her surroundings than able to see when she was respawning, so she became aware of the handcuffs around her wrists even before she was conscious. Lindsay tried to twist her hands around but the lack of leeway prevented it. It took her a few tugs to realise her wrists were chained to a heavy metal table and her ankles were cuffed to her chair.

The room around her was dark, with a single powerful light bulb above her head that drifted ominously from side to side. If she squinted, Lindsay could see something reflective on the wall opposite her.

It looked like the interrogation rooms the police had shoved them into, on the very rare occasions that they were caught. (Or that one time they let themselves be caught to break people out of prison, but that didn’t count).

As far as she knew, Lindsay was alone. Wait… No: there was someone else in the room.

Lindsay was still too weak from respawning to fully turn her body (if she even could with the restraints on her), so she lolled her head to one side.

_Jack_!

Jack was with her. The simple thought managed to comfort her. But the more she looked at Jack, the more she realised something must have _really_  fucked them up, because Jack’s clothes looked scorched and there were patches of her skin that were still pink and tender from her body regenerating itself.

Lindsay racked her memory but all she could remember was firing a gun, a pain just beneath her neck, hearing someone shout something, a lot of pain and then... Nothing. Not a damn thing between that bright light and this bright light above her.

“ _Jack_?” Lindsay hissed, testing the waters. She couldn’t tell in what state of awareness Jack was in, but it was worth a shot. “ _Jack_!” Lindsay hissed again, a bit louder.

She saw Jack stir ever so slightly, but not enough to revive her completely.

There was a long while of silence before there was any more sound. Lindsay slowly felt her strength return to her and she played with how much leeway the cuffs gave her.

“ _Linds_ …” Jack’s voice was raspy and faint, but Lindsay’s head snapped up to look at her. “ _Lindsay_.” Jack repeated, her voice a bit stronger.

“Jack, I’m here.” Lindsay said helpfully. Jack looked at the direction of the voice and her eyes focused on the red-head.

“Where’s here?” Jack asked, glancing around the room. Lindsay finally saw that Jack was handcuffed as well to a separate table and to her own chair. From where Lindsay was sat, it looked like her handcuffs were made of a thicker material and she even had some around her arms, keeping her pinned to the chair.

“I have no idea.” Lindsay admitted. 


	15. Where The Heart Isn't

The next morning wasn’t any better, for any of them.

The moment the three of them had walked through the front door of Geoff’s apartment, Ray and Gavin had practically swarmed them. Gavin had taken one look at Meg and pulled her into a hug (they _were_  kind-of-maybe-( _it’s-complicated_ )- going out so they were allowed to hug in this stressful time, no matter what Ryan’s sly looks said).

Geoff had pulled her aside when they were sure she was alright and told her that she was free to use Jack’s old room if she wanted to stay with them for a while (or until they found their girls).

Meg had told him repeatedly that he ‘ _didn’t have to do that, really_ ’ but Geoff had waved her off and showed her where it was, telling Meg where she could find the toiletries to take a shower and where there were some spare clothes she could change into.

Ryan had told Geoff to go to bed not long after that, and Geoff could tell from the hard look in his eye that Ryan was fully prepared to wrestle Geoff into his room. The others retired to their rooms not long after.

 

The next morning, Geoff barely pulled on a pair of loose sweatpants and a shirt before he left his room, unshaven and still groggy. He rubbed his hand over his face, walking into the kitchen and automatically sitting at one of the chairs at the bar. A plate of eggs, toast and bacon was placed in front of him and Geoff looked up in surprise. Ray just looked at him sympathetically and went back to the stove. There were a few more plates of similar portions to the one in front of Geoff.

“Did you even sleep?” Geoff asked, wincing at how rough his voice sounded. Ray just shrugged and carried on cooking the bacon.

Ryan was the next person to walk out of the corridor, completely barefaced and not dressed to leave the apartment. He paused when he saw the scene in front of him.

But Ryan didn’t make a big deal out of it; he picked up a plate with one hand and gently pulled Ray to him with the other. Ray accepted the gesture but Geoff thought he saw Ray lean into the contact. Maybe they were close to solving their problems…

Ryan broke away and went to go sit beside Geoff, grabbing a few knives and forks on his way, and effectively ending the moment.

The two sat in silence while Ray cooked and they waited for the others to wake up. Michael was the next person to wake up and he sat down, eat the breakfast without a word. Ray finished the cooking and set out the last three plates, dumping all the pans into the sink to deal with at some point later in the future. He didn’t bother sitting at a table, so he pulled himself onto the counter and kept his plate on his lap. 

Needless to say, Gavin was a tad confused when he walked in and saw them all sitting in silence while they ate.

“Hey, Vav,” Ray said, being the first one to see Gavin as he slowly walked over to them.  “Food’s on the counter.” He nodded towards the plate and Gavin picked one up, sitting in the empty seat between Ryan and Michael.

The tension in the air was borderline awkward, but that was ridiculous: they had been a Crew for decades, things were never awkward between them. They had seen each other through every emotion and scenario, so the air shouldn’t have felt this tense between them; missing members or not.

Ryan finished first, standing up and taking his plate to the sink. He paused and picked up Geoff’s plate, since Geoff was just pushing the food around on his plate without eating much of it.

“So what are we going to do?” A new voice asked. All heads turned and saw Meg standing near the end of the hallway. She was dressed in an old pair of jeans she must have found and one of Jack’s old shirts that was too big for her frame and the pattern was faded enough so that the once-bright colours looked pastel. 

“We can’t do anything until we know who took them.” Ray said, moving his plate to the counter beside him. He held up the last plate for Meg to take and Ryan pointed to his seat, letting her know it was free.

“We should wait until someone demands something.” Michael said. “Then we find those sons of bitches and blow their fucking brains out.”

Ryan nodded solemnly as he poured two cups of coffee, keeping one for himself and sliding one to Geoff. He leaned against the counter, keeping a respectful distance between himself and Ray, slowly making his way through his coffee. 

“That’s it?” Meg asked, taking Ryan’s seat and beginning to eat her breakfast. Geoff noticed that Meg’s portion was a bit bigger than the others. Ray must have thought she’d needed it after last night. “You’re just going to lie down and take it?”

“This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.” Gavin said, speaking for the first time that morning. “They know we’re going to find them and we know they can handle it until we do.” 

“You’re really not going to do anything.” Meg repeated, looking around at them in disbelief.

“Well, what do you think we should do, Turney?” Gavin asked. He kept his voice as passive and unthreatening as possible. ‘ _Professional mode_ ’ engaged.

“We should start asking around.” Meg said. “Maybe someone knows something.”

“If they took some of our Crew, then they know who we are and they know what they’re risking.” Geoff said, sipping his coffee slowly. “In short, they fucked up. _Big time_. If any of our contacts knows something, we'll be the first one they tell.”

“Okay, so what about when you get the ransom call. What then?” Meg asked, finishing her food and placing the knife and fork on the plate.

“We find them and kill them and get our girls back. It’s standard procedure.” Ryan said.

“Not when we ran together.” Meg commented, mostly under her breath. Ryan’s posture changed minutely, but everyone saw it.

“This isn’t back then, Meg. Things are different. We don’t have his network to look after us anymore.” Ryan said.

“I know that, Ryan,” Meg snapped. “I just thought that maybe you’d have a plan to get them back since you’re the gang that basically runs this town now. You know what happened last time you didn’t-” Meg said, getting out of her seat and standing in front of him.

“Meg, drop the subject.” Ryan said, a warning note in his voice. “ _Now_.”

“So you do remember. The way you’ve been acting, I thought you’d forgotten that you’d-”

“Meg!” Ryan snapped. He quickly tried to get himself under control like he always did. “ _Don’t_  bring this up again. Ever.” Ryan towered over Meg, but neither of them had any advantage over the other.

“Don’t go all dad on me, _James_.” Meg said, folding her arms over her chest.

There was a beat of silence and then the sound of a short, sharp laugh that came close to a snort. Meg and Ryan whipped their heads to look at Ray, who was laughing behind his hand.

“ _James_. She first named you, Ryan, holy _shit_.” Ray said, letting himself laugh.

Something about hearing Ray laugh for the first time in a while made the air feel suddenly lighter. The atmosphere relaxed and they saw the fight leave Ryan and Meg.

“Michael, put the TV on. We should see if they’ve got any videos for us.” Geoff said, his mug empty.  He still looked tired, but that probably had to do with staying up all night because his bed felt too big for just him. 

 

Hours passed with no word. No mysterious video sent to them. No urgent news reports with pictures of a man in a balaclava demanding money. Complete radio silence.

So it was completely understandable that the knock at the door put them all on edge.

Ryan picked up his gun from the coffee table and held it in his hand, the safety clicked off but his finger not resting on the trigger. He stepped closer to the door and rested one hand on the handle. Michael drew his gun as well, moving so he was standing on the other side of the door to Ryan.

In his head, Ryan counted to three and opened the door, pointing his gun at the person behind it. Michael lifted his arm and aimed, clicking the safety off at the same time.

“Hey, Ryan.” The person said, disarming Ryan completely with those two words. If he was anyone else, the gun would have probably fallen to the floor. Michael glared at the person, cocking the gun to emphasise his complete willingness to shoot him. “Calm down, I’m not here to cause trouble.” The person said again. 

“Then why the fuck are you here?” Michael challenged. His hands were completely steady and the gun never wavered.

“I’m here for Geoff.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone remembers me talking about another FAHC fic I was writing, maybe they realised that I deleted it because now I have bigger plans for it, so keep an eye out


	16. Pulling Out Receipts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a blood moon tonight  
> #SoSpooks

“What the fuck do you mean you’re here for Geoff?” Michael demanded, shoving the gun forwards, his posture becoming more threatening each second.

“Michael,” Ryan said, completely lowering his gun. His entire body had stilled and his muscles were wound tight. He looked like he was so close to attacking and his knuckles were white from where he clenched the gun tightly.

Geoff had heard his name and walked up to the door, putting his shoulders down and back so he looked a bit more put together than he felt.

“I heard my name, who are you gossiping to?” Geoff joked, looking at Ryan casually. He either didn’t notice or didn’t acknowledge the change in posture.

“Wow, Geoff; are you drunk this early, already?” The person asked, a joking tone to their voice and a bright smile that Geoff recognised instantly. Geoff beamed at the person and pulled them in for a hug, patting their back jovially.

“Nice to see you, Sorola.” Geoff said, breaking the hug and looking at them.

“It’s good to see you too, Ramsey.” They said, glancing around the apartment behind Geoff.

“Lads, this is Gus.” Geoff said, turning around to introduce the newcomer to the group.

He only saw a brief flash of purple before the sound of someone being punched and he saw the image of Gus holding his face and Gavin trying to hold back Meg, and she looked _pissed_.

“You son of a bitch, Gus!” Meg shouted. Michael quickly shut the door and bolted it.

Geoff saw Ryan’s hand clench around the gun again threateningly. Ray saw as well because he walked over to Ryan’s side and gently pulled the gun out of his grasp, unloading it and dumping the magazine on the floor.

“YOU WERE _DEAD_! I SAW YOU DIE!” Meg shouted in anger. “You let Ryan think he killed you! For _years_!”

“Gavin,” Geoff said, knowing he had to take control of the situation before something happened. “Get Meg out of here until she calms down. Ryan, if you go for a gun, Michael’s putting you down. Got it?” He said, using the most commanding voice he had.

“Meg, come on.” Gavin said, leading Meg down the corridor to some room where she didn’t want to murder Gus. Ryan nodded tersely and pulled out the other gun he had on him, passing it to Ray as a show of good faith.

“Alright,” Geoff said, looking at the rest of the people in the room. “Now Ryan, you’re going to explain what the fuck it was that Meg just said, and then Gus is going to tell us why the fuck he’s here.”

“We were in a gang, before you offered me a job, Geoff.” Ryan said, visibly pulling himself back under control. He couldn’t afford to let himself loose control at a time like this. He wished more than anything that he had his mask on right now. “The last job we did together, we hired this small gang as backup for a heist so we could make a deal that meant we could move on to another city. The deal went off without a hitch and we paid off the gang, but when the buyers found out it was a scam, we heard they’d killed the gang we’d hired and that they were after us. We skipped town anyway and laid low for a couple years. We were going to do another job, try and set up another deal with this small-time gang, but the meeting place was lined with C4. I shot the guy who had the detonator, but it was a fake. They were on a timer, and I’d killed the guy who knew how to shut them down. The building was about to be blown the fuck up, and we were all just trapped. Ashley found a door that lead into the alley, and we got out and back to our motel room.”

“Is this going anywhere?” Michael asked.

“It is. Turns out it was _Gus_  that sold us out.” Ryan said, glaring at the man. “He told the people we scammed where we were. The son of a bitch wanted us dead. So I shot him and left. Within a week, I was back here and less than a month later Geoff gave me this job.”

“I didn’t sell you out.” Gus said. He had the beginnings of a bruise on his chin but it looked like a dramatic shadow.

“Bullshit; you know what you did.” Meg said, standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. Gavin was stood next to her, one hand on her shoulder, just in case. She looked calmer than she did before.

“That gang _died_  because of us.” Gus said. “I wasn’t selling you guys out, I was trying to get them their revenge. I told them where we were so we could fucking _kill them_ , Ryan.”

“Who was the gang?” Geoff asked, never having heard this story before.

“Just a bunch of kids with a lot of guts.” Ryan said. “I never even met them, but they must have been some bored kids who had some guns-”

“This doesn’t explain why you’re here?” Gavin pointed out, looking pointedly at Gus.

“The people we pissed off want us. ‘ _Us_ ’ being Hullum and I. They know we’ve been in contact, Geoff. They think they can get to us through you.” Gus explained, keeping eye contact with Geoff so he knew that this was serious.

The front door slammed and all heads whipped around to look at it. Gavin quickly looked around, mentally checking who was still there.

“Where’s Ray?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should apologise for all the cliffhangers....


	17. Sitting Peacefully at the Top

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school is hard and writing is also hard. Life- life is also very hard so I'm sorry for the infrequent updates :(

There was one place that Ray liked to go, ever since his first life. It was a pain to get to, but there Ray was: sat on top of Mt. Chilliad, a fireworks launcher balanced between his knees. There was always a certain element of _otherness_  about the place, like it was detached from the rest of the world. Like the only technology that ever existed was the motorcycle Ray had rode up there and the phone in his pocket.

A shuffling sound made it to Ray’s sharp ears, but he didn’t react.

“I guess you’re not up here for the view.” Ray said, not turning around to look at Ryan. The city stretched out in front of Ray and Ryan kept his eyes on it as he sat on the mountain beside him.

“Depends which one you’re talking about.” Ryan said casually. He still hadn’t put on his face paint and his hair was tied back loosely in a bun now. “Why’d you leave, Ray?” Ryan asked, his voice calm. He kept one leg bent and rested his arm on it. The posture was casual in a way that he only ever was with Ray.

“A gang of kids?” Ray asked, his voice devoid of emotion at that moment.

“We just needed bodies to watch our backs; it’s was only the four of us on that job.” Ryan justified.

“Bodies? That’s all they were?” Ray continued.

“Where are you going with this, Ray?” Ryan asked, looking at him with concern. Ray was quiet for a few moments, looking over the city. His fingers tapped idly on the firework launcher.

“That gang of kids you hired,” Ray said hesitantly, choosing his words, “was the gang I ran with before Jack offered me a place with the Crew. We got hired by these people and I was their sniper. Two months later, they were all dead and somehow I wasn’t.”

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding Meg and Ashley.” Ryan said, finally understanding.

“Dollface and Jinxcellent are the reason I’m here right now, but they’re the reason I died in the first place.” Ray said. He almost sounded mournful, as if he was still grieving for his past life.

“I had no idea, Ray.” Ryan said.

“We were hanging out in a warehouse getting blazed and these two dudes just kicked open the doors and open fired. I hid behind a couple crates but one of them found me and stabbed the shit out of me. I tried to shoot ‘em but I was already dying by the time I grabbed the gun. When I woke up, and I realised I was still _alive_ , I saw that all my gang was fucking dead and I wasn’t.” Ray said. “I didn’t know that we died because of the job we took. I just thought we were unlucky.”

“I’m sorry.” Ryan said, after a few moments of quiet. “We had no idea they’d go after you. You’ve never told me this before.”

“I’ve never told anyone that before. Except Jack.” Ray admitted.

“Well, it’s Jack. She always knows this stuff.” Ryan agreed, giving Ray a small smile. Ray carried on as if he hadn’t heard him.

“I should be in my fifties right now, maybe with a few grandkids and complaining about rap music.” Ray said, a hint of his old humour back in his voice. “But instead I’m here, having to deal with this revenge bullshit again. The same load of bullshit that killed me.”

They sat in silence for a while, churning over what they could say to each other in their heads.

“Why did you follow me?” Ray finally asked, not looking at him.

“I know where you like to go to blow off some steam.” Ryan said, admiring the city. “At least not the way that requires another person.” He added, looking over at Ray and waggling his eyebrows for a second to emphasise his point.

Ray burst out laughing, momentarily letting himself forget himself and just laugh at Ryan’s innuendo.

“And I wanted to make sure you were alright.” Ryan admitted, going back to the skyline.

A silence fell over the two of them again and while it happened, Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette packet, holding one of them between his lips. He reached into another pocket and pulled out a small matchbox, using a match to light his cigarette.

“Want one?” Ryan asked, holding out the box to Ray. Ray wordlessly took one, lighting it with a lighter he pulled out of his pocket.

Ryan let out a small laugh when he realised.

“I wondered where my lighter went.” He said, flicking some ash away from them. Ray shrugged, holding it out to him.

“You can have it back if you want.” Ray offered, but Ryan shook his head.

“It’s alright, I got another one custom made.” Ryan said, reaching into a protected inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a new lighter. This one was _significantly_  different to the silver skull.

This one was stylised to look like a rose with a golden stem and rose gold petals. The ‘ _stem_ ’ of the lighter was embossed so that it looked like barbed wire and one of the petals pulled back to actually ignite the lighter. Ryan was particularly proud of the fact that when lit, the flame was in the very middle of the rose. It had cost a lot more than the skull, but Ryan could easily justify the result.

“Whoa! Dude, that’s amazing!” Ray praised, admiring the lighter. Ryan offered it out to Ray and the younger man held it in his hand. “This must have cost a fortune.”

“Eh. I could afford it.” Ryan said, shrugging easily. “I figured this would be a good substitute for the skull.”

“I’m taking that that I can keep it.” Ray said, handing back the rose lighter to Ryan. There was a moment when their hands brushed together and Ryan felt like they were back in their courting days. All light touches and stolen glances.

“You can keep it for as long as you want.” Ryan said. There was a certain tone in his voice that he prayed Ray didn’t catch. Oh, how his prayers went unanswered.

“Why do I feel like there was a hidden meaning there, Rye?” Ray teased, putting the skull lighter back in his pocket. Ryan took another drag of his cigarette, thinking about how he could word it.

“I just want to know where we are, Ray. And don’t give me a smartass answer.” Ryan said, knowing that Ray was about two seconds away from making a dumb remark. “Just tell me if you want to take a break, or break up or what.”

“I don’t want to break up, Ryan.” Ray admitted. “I just needed some time to work everything out. The whole thing with Jinx and Dollface just- You know?”

“No, I understand.” Ryan reassured him. “You just needed some space.”

Ray shot him a smile and shuffed a bit closer to Ryan, so they were sat next to each other.

“I missed you Rye-bread.” Ray said, leaning his head against Ryan’s shoulder.

“I missed you too, Ray. It was lonely smoking in my room without you.” Ryan said, curling one arm around Ray’s torso.

“You smoked without me, you jerk?” Ray asked, putting on an offended voice.

“I didn’t use any of the good stuff.” Ryan promised, smiling down at Ray.

“Good.” Ray said, looking out over the city. “I’m also sorry for freaking out about the whole ‘ _L-word_ ’ thing.” He added, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie.

“Look, Ray, I’ll be honest: I’m not asking to get married any time soon or to even tell each other that we’ll love each other forever and ever and have each other’s babies,” Ryan said, his voice measured but earnest. “I just want to spend time with you again. You know, smoke in the evenings and watch bad action films together.”

“You don’t think I’m marriage material, Rye?” Ray said, jokingly, but the tension in his muscles did relax.

“Well first, we have to get our parent’s blessing and that could just be awkward. My side of the family’s pretty protective of me.” Ryan joked.

“I’d win them over with my Puerto Rican charm.” Ray said. “It won _you_ over.” Ryan hummed to himself, pressing a kiss to the top of Ray’s head.

“We’ll see.” Ryan said teasingly. A comfortable silence fell over them and Ray’s fingers tapped out an old rhythm on the barrel of the fireworks launcher. They both finished their cigarettes and snubbed them out in the earth beside them.

“Hey Rye.” Ray said suddenly, leaning back to look Ryan in the eye.

“Yeah?” Ryan asked, turning his head to looked at his companion. Ray barely hesitated before he leaned forwards and kissed Ryan gently, bringing his free hand up to cup his cheek. Ryan leaned into the kiss, almost sighing happily as he kissed back. Ray tasted like smoke, and Ryan suddenly realised how much he’d missed that.

“How much do you want to set the fireworks off?” Ray asked, leaning back just enough to speak.

“Oh god, so bad.” Ryan admitted. Ray just laughed and handed the fireworks launcher to Ryan.

He watched as he brought it up to his shoulder and aimed it up into the sky. (Ray noticed that the tip of his tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated).

The fireworks soared into the sky and exploded in a bright burst that reminded both of them of happy times. To the Crew, fireworks were a thing of celebration after a heist, something to look on at in awe while everyone sat together and admired the pretty colours and raw _energy_  of the explosion.

It felt appropriate, in all honesty. Fireworks were their symbol of survival, even though they were only there for a short while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering, Ryan used a match to light his cigarette instead of his fancy new lighter because he's a drama queen and was waiting for the right moment to show Ray his new lighter...


	18. Rage Against The Dying Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is officially the longest fic I've ever written and posted :D
> 
> Thank you for sticking with it!!

After Ray left the apartment (‘ _stormed out_ ’ made him sound like some stroppy teenager), Geoff pulled Gus into the Heist room.

Michael hoped that it was to get some fucking straight answers.

“I’m going to go find Ray.” Ryan said, grabbing a jacket and _almost_  slamming the door behind him as he left. (Maybe _he_  was the stroppy teenager…)

The apartment was quiet in his absence and people remaining didn’t know what, if anything, to say to each other.

Michael felt like he had too much energy. He felt hurt and afraid and confused and lonely and he wanted absolutely nothing more than to just curl up on his big bed in his apartment with his wife and boyfriend, but he couldn’t.

He couldn’t because someone with a revenge complex kidnapped Lindsay and Gavin was practically on a leash which Meg held. Michael took a couple breaths when that thought entered his mind. No; he didn’t hate Meg or begrudge her Gavin’s attention. It wasn’t her fault that Gavin liked her.

Michael barely felt himself moving until he felt someone’s hand around his wrist. He blinked and saw that his hand was grasping the front door knob and it was Gavin’s hand stopping him. He looked up and saw Gavin’s gaze meeting his own.

“Michael-” Gavin started. His voice was gentle, calming. Michael almost tore his hand away.

“Let go of me, Gav.” Michael said, his own voice much harsher than he expected.

“Where are you going?” Gavin asked, not letting go.

“I don’t know.” Michael admitted. Gavin’s eyes raked over his face. He wasn’t wearing his sunglasses so Michael could actually see all the emotion in them.

“We need to have a talk, boi.” Gavin said, pulling Michael towards the bedrooms.

Michael’s bedroom in Geoff’s apartment hadn’t been slept in for months. He still had posters and clothes there, and a couple weapons as well, but it felt weird to stand in the middle of it, facing Gavin. It felt like the last couple months hadn’t happened. Like it all was before the heist, before Geoff sent four of them off to prison and they came back with three more.

The sheets on the bed were washed and crisp and Michael felt a pang in his chest when he realised either Geoff or Jack must have washed them for him.

“Michael,” Gavin said, snapping Michael out of his thoughts. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Gav.” Michael insisted. Gavin took a deep breath. He knew that pushing Michael for an answer never worked.  

“Look, boi, I miss L-”

“You’ve barely seen her these last few weeks!” Michael snapped without meaning to. He felt the dam burst in his chest and all the pent up feelings demanded to be felt. “When was the last time you came back to the apartment?! When was the last time we hung out?! You’ve completely ditched us! You’ve been spending all your times with Meg or you’ve been avoiding us! If you wanted to leave, then you should have just fucking _told_  us instead of ignoring us!” Michael felt his chest heave and his blood felt like magma in his veins.

“You think I wanted to leave?” Gavin repeated, picking that last bit out of the mini rant. “Really? You think after everything we’ve been through that I’d just up and leave? The relationship wasn’t exclusive, Michael! We all agreed that. Did you forget that?”

“Of course I didn’t, Gavin!”

“Then why are you being like this, boi?!” Gavin demanded, feeling his own emotions flare up. “What do you think I’ve been doing every time I’ve been out with Meg? I’ve been getting to know her! And guess what? She’s absolutely fine with all this! She wants to go on a double date with all of us! We’ve been planning it, trying to make it a nice surprise!”

“What?” Michael wanted to stay angry. He wanted to keep using his rage a fuel, but Gavin’s words seemed to just douse them completely.

“I haven’t abandoned you, you sod.” Gavin said, stepping closer and putting his hands on Michael’s arms.

“I heard that bit,” Michael said, feeling confused. “What was all that about Meg? And a date?”

“Did you ruin the surprise, Gav?” Meg’s voice asked from the doorway. The two men looked over and saw her standing there.

“He got it out of me, Meg.” Gavin protested, half-turning his body to look at her.

“Aww, Gav.” Meg walked into the room and stood next to both men. “Did you tell him what we were going to do, or…?”

“Nah, I haven’t told him any of that.” Gavin promised.

“Good.” Meg said, briefly reaching out for Gavin’s hand and squeezing it. “Look, as much as I like wearing Jack’s clothes, I’m going to run home and get some of my own clothes to wear.” She said.

“But you’re going to hang out here until everyone’s back together, right?” Gavin asked.

“If I get breakfast cooked for me every morning, I’ll stay forever.” Meg said teasingly, looking between them.

“You haven’t tasted Geoff’s cooking yet, have you?” Michael asked, a small smirk on his face.

“If it’s as good as I’ve been hearing, then I’ll definitely have to stick around.” Meg said.

She reached up and pecked Gavin on the cheek fondly. Her eyes shifted to Michael and it took her barely a second to decide to peck his cheek as well.

“I’ll be a couple hours, at most. Tell Ryan where I am so he doesn’t start to freak out when he gets back.” Meg said, leaving the room breezily, giving them a salute-like wave as a goodbye.

Gavin looked over at Michael and saw that he looked a little stunned. He obviously didn’t think that Meg would be that fond of him. Gavin stepped into Michael’s personal space and grabbed the sides of his shirt so he pulled Michael closer to him.

“Don’t be so surprised, Micoo.” Gavin said, catching Michael’s attention. “Meg loves the Crew. And she’s also really grateful that you found her after the car wreck.”

“Really?” Michael asked. His arms went around Gavin’s torso because he was rocking childishly so much he was going to fall otherwise.

“What is it, boi?” Gavin asked, knowing the look on Michael’s face too well.

“I think Meg’s going to be good for us.” Michael admitted after a few moments of quiet.

“Well, Lindsay loves spending time with her.” Gavin said.

“Lindsay told you that?” Michael asked, surprised.

“Meg did.” Gavin said, shaking his head slightly. “Meg went out with Lindsay and Mica a few times, and she’d hung out with just Lindsay a lot more. Apparently, they’ve got a team name already.”

“Seriously? Did Meg tell you what it is?” Michael asked. Gavin nodded solemnly.

“Team Free Willy.” He said, completely seriously. Michael gave himself a few seconds to decide if Gavin was trying to trick him or not. He must have decided that Gavin was genuine because he let out a bark of a laugh.

“Still doesn’t beat Team Nice Dynamite.” Michael said.

“Nothing will, boi.” Gavin promised, smiling at the man he was holding and resting his forehead on his.

“I missed you, Gav.” Michael admitted, his voice sincere and genuine. Gavin leaned into Michael and kissed him.

Somehow, it felt important, and that was a bit scary.

“I missed you too, boi.” Gavin barely said. The vulnerability between them felt abstract.

They were hardened criminals; members of the fucking Fake AH Crew. Certified badasses. Immortals who blew shit up for a living.

But this moment of intimacy between them… That one moment of admitting that they missed each other…

It made them feel _human_  again.

It made them feel like they weren’t out-of-place and out-of-time.

Like they belonged in that exact point in space-time.

They had their place again, even if they weren’t complete just yet.

 

“I hate to tell you, Geoff, but I don’t think I should have come. Looks like your Crew can’t handle it right now.” Gus said, taking the drink that Geoff had poured for him.

“Hm? Oh,” Geoff said, taking a sip of his drink. “They’re fine. We’re just working through some things.”

“But they all seem really upset.” Gus said.

“We’re a Crew. We fight, and we shoot each other, then we come home, have steak and beer.” Geoff said. “All they have to do is beat the shit out each other for a while, then they’ll kiss and make up. _Then_  we get down to business.” Geoff said, pointing at Gus with one inked finger. “So, what’ve you got for me, Sorola?”


	19. First Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slightly graphic injury description in this chapter, but as a heads up :3

“You can’t break them, Jack. I’ve tried.” Lindsay said, watching as Jack was trying to find a way to loosen her restraints.

“Well, there has to be some weak spot.” Jack said, tugging at the ones around her wrists sharply. There was a wet breaking sound and Lindsay winced violently.

“You okay, Jack?” She asked.

“That didn’t work.” Was all Jack said. “ _Son of a bitch._ ” She hissed, examining her wrist. Only one of them was broken, but pain still shot up her arm every time she moved now. _Really_  wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

The lights suddenly dimmed to the point of blackness and the sound of a door opening resonated in the room. Jack and Lindsay both looked up even though they couldn’t see.

Two silhouettes walked up to them, stopping in front of the tables. They both placed a laptop-shaped object on the table in front of Jack and Lindsay and opened them. It was difficult to see their face in the dim light, but the light of the laptop screen meant they could make out a few features.

The laptops were turned around so each woman could see the screen. Jack looked at the screen and saw her own face in a small video window. It was a video call.

Jack could see Lindsay’s face in another small video window and the words telling her that the call was connecting displayed across the screen.

The laptop had distracted her enough for Jack to not notice the person walking behind her until she felt the length of cloth being tied around her mouth and knotted behind her head.

“When they pick up, you’ll say what I tell you to, okay?” A voice said, putting their mouth beside Jack’s ear, but keeping out of her line of sight.

Jack nodded minutely. That voice was familiar. A piece of paper was pressed into Jack’s hand and she quickly looked down to see a couple paragraphs typed out neatly on it.

It took a few rings for the call to connect and Jack’s breath was still in her lungs as an image of the Crew popped up. The lights suddenly brightened and Jack heard the Crew make various noises of distress and anger. She could imagine what was going through their heads. (She imagined a lot of swearing was involved). 

“ ** _Can you guys hear us?_** ” Geoff’s voice cut through the noise and Jack’s eyes focused on him. She could see Lindsay’s video feed in her peripherals and saw her nod in agreement.  

The gag around Jack’s head was untied and Jack looked down, frowning like she was trying to make sense of the words in front of her.

“ _Pardon?_ ” Jack asked, slipping into her perfect French naturally and glancing to the side. It was almost standard procedure for anyone who could speak anything other than English. (What was the point of not fucking with people when you had the chance?) “ _Je ne parle pas l'anglais_.”

“We know you can speak, English.” The voice said, commanding and authoritative.

Jack looked down again, playing the part wonderfully (maybe she should have joined Ryan in theatre). She took a breath and acted like she was practicing how to say the words.

“ _Geoffrey,_ ” She started, hearing the other end of the video feed go silent. She spoke with her heavy French accent. “ _Nous savons-_ ”

A hand snuck into her view and Jack felt it settle around her throat, putting _just_  enough pressure on it to be uncomfortable and threatening, but not enough to impede her airflow. She could see Geoff’s mouth harden on the other side of the video feed.

“I said, _English_.” The voice said, the threat hidden well in his words. “We _know_  you can speak it, Jack. We’re not fucking morons.” Jack swallowed, feeling the hand tighten minutely.

“ _We know that you have been in contact with both Gus Sorola and Matt Hullum._ ” Jack said, keeping her voice heavily accented. It would take more than a few thinly-veiled threats to throw her off. “ _We know because it was your gang that freed AxialMatt and Jerem when we were meant to kill them. The only people who wanted them alive were Gus and Matt. Because of that we have taken two of your crew_.”

“ ** _YOU SON OF A BITCH!_** ” Michael’s voice cut across, bringing Jack’s gaze up sharply. “ ** _WHERE ARE YOU?_** ”

Jack felt the nozzle of a gun press against the side of her head and she saw the same happen to Lindsay in her small video window. Anger flared up inside her. They could threaten _her_  as much they wanted, but Lindsay was another story.

“Keep reading.” The voice said. Jack looked back down at the paper and carried on, but her jaw was tight with anger. Compliance was key right now. She always had to give them the wrong impression first. She could always screw them over when the time was right.

“ _Your crew members won’t be hurt if you follow our instructions exactly_.” Jack said, keeping her voice devoid of any emotion. “ _We want information on the exact and definite whereabouts of both Gus Solora and Matt Hullum. Intentionally outdated information will lead to the permanent removal of the two crew members. Refusal to cooperate will also lead to the permanent removal of the two crew members. Only providing information for one of the men we’re looking for will basically lead to the permanent removal of the two crew members. We know that you have the information that we want._ ”

Jack’s eyes slowly moved to the side as she tried to see who was pointing the gun at her. They noticed and she felt the gun be pushed into her skin harder.

“Eyes forwards.” They warned. The voice finally flicked in Jack’s mind. “Finish reading.”

“ _We are prepared to give you a full week to hand over the information we are looking for. Tomorrow a phone will arrive at your apartment and each day you will get a call from us as proof that both of your crew members are still alive, and also to give you a chance to turn over the information before the week is up. We know that you are prepared to do anything to save your crew, Geoff. And we know that Jack is important to you in particular. Don’t be- Don’t be a dumbass, Geoff._ ” Jack said. She took a breath and looked up at the video. She saw Geoff with his hands covering his mouth and almost tears in his eyes. She knew it was out of anger rather than sadness. (If they knew anything about each other, it was that they were tough sons of bitches).

Michael and Ryan looked apoplectic. Gavin looked saddened and his eyes flickered from between two points on the screen. Ray looked silently furious, his hands clenching the material of his hoodie. Jack took another breath. Time to take a risk.

“ _Do what you know is right, Geoff_.” Jack said, gathering her courage. “Get JoeAct together.” She said, dropping the accent completely.

There was a split second of confusion but Jack’s eyes didn’t look away from Geoff, praying that he understood. He _had_  to understand.

Geoff’s eyes stayed on the image of her on the screen. He nodded just enough for her to see.

“Then find us, you son of a bitch.” Jack said, a smile finally creeping up on her.

“SHUT IT DOWN!” The voice beside Lindsay shouted, slamming her laptop closed.

“ ** _I will_.** ” Geoff promised.

That was the last thing Jack heard before she heard the gun go off and felt a bullet tear through her head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yet another cliff hanger....
> 
> How unfortunate.


	20. Forced Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> had a pretty great day today so you guys get an update :D

A package was slid under the door of the apartment, catching everyone inside off guard.

Michael was the one who approached it first, carefully checking it wasn’t some letter bomb. He carefully opened it and pulled out the contents, putting it on the coffee table.

The rest of the Crew crowded around, frowning at it.

“A laptop?” Gavin asked. “Who the bloody hell would send us a laptop?”

Geoff reached forwards and opened the lid. It was powered on and the screen showed a skype page.

“What-” Geoff began, but he got spooked by an incoming call message that took up the screen.

“Gus, Meg, stand behind the laptop.” Ryan said, pulling his mask on so it covered his face. “We don’t know who’s calling.”

The two moved so they were out of frame and the rest crowded around as Geoff clicked the ‘ _accept_ ’ button.

Two video call screens popped up: one showing Jack and one showing Lindsay. Both of them were gagged and the reaction from the Crew was instant and angry.

“Can you guys hear us?” Geoff asked, speaking clearly and confidently. Lindsay nodded and Michael let out a deep breath of air.

Someone off screen ungagged Jack and she looked down at something in her hands. She looked back up and started speaking, but she wasn’t speaking English. (Geoff always forgot she could speak French).

“Oh, Jack,” Ryan said quietly next to Geoff. “Let’s hope that’s a smart move.”

Geoff carried on watching as someone’s hand wrapped around Jack’s throat and she started speaking in slightly broken English with a heavy French accent.

The more she talked, the more Geoff looked between the two women on screen. He barely heard what Jack was saying, but he knew the rest of the Crew was listening intently.

He heard Michael shout and saw a gun be pressed against Lindsay and Jack’s heads. His eyes narrowed. He could see the person’s hand wrapped the gun pressed to Jack’s head. Geoff resisted the urge to lean forwards, but he thought he could _just_  see something on their hand. Was that a tattoo?

“ _-et JoeAct together_.” Jack said. Geoff’s attention snapped back to her and he could see her pleading eyes. He nodded just enough for her to see and he could see the relief coming over her. It made sense now.

“ _Then find us, you son of a bitch_.” Jack said, the beginnings of a smile on her face.

“I will.” Geoff promised. He watched as Lindsay’s video feed shut off and the gun pointed at Jack’s head was fired.

It took another few seconds for her video feed to die.

There was a moment of silence. For a few seconds where no one breathed.

The table was flipped over and Michael was stood over it, his breathing harsh. Meg and Gus had backed away, watching the Crew apprehensively.

“GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!” Michael shouted, kicking the table.

“Michael-” Gavin said, trying to get through to him.

“FUCKING SHIT FUCK FUCK SHIT HOLY _BALLS_  THIS IS BULLSHIT!” Michael continued to rant, kicking the table repeatedly, stamping on it until the wood cracked.

“Michael STOP!” Gavin shouted.

Ryan stood up from the sofa and took a few steps towards Michael, physically picking him up and moving him away from the table.

“RYAN WHAT THE FUCK PUT ME DOWN!” Michael screamed. Ryan set him down on the ground gently. He put his hands on Michael’s shoulders and held on, forcing the Lad to look him in the eye.

“This isn’t _helping_ , Michael.” Ryan said strongly.

“THEY’VE GOT MY FUCKING WIFE!” Michael protested.

“And they’ve also got Jack and Ashley! But destroying Geoff’s table isn’t going to get any of them back!” Ryan said, his voice sturdy and unwavering. Michael knew that he was being unreasonable and felt his anger leave him.

Ryan stepped away, sure that Michael wasn’t going to start shouting again. Gavin walked up to them and stood beside Michael, wrapping his hand around Michael’s arm comfortingly.

“Now the real question is what did Jack mean with that JoeAct thing.” Ryan said, turning to face Geoff. Geoff looked up at Gus and saw the look on the other man’s face.

“It isn’t...” Gus said, trailing off nervously.

“It’s him. That motherfucker. I saw the tattoo on his hand.” Geoff said.  

“Shit.” Gus swore, his shoulders tensing. “I should have known Heyman and Burns would have tried something like this.”

“Wait, Burns?” Gavin interrupted. “Burnie Burns?”

“No, Montgomery Burns.” Ray butted in. Ryan gave him a look that was probably meant to be reprimanding, but he was trying not to smile. 

“You know him?” Gus said, looking at Gavin curiously.

“That prick! He was meant to be my friend!” Gavin exclaimed dramatically. “He helped us break out of prison!”

“He didn’t know what we were there for.” Geoff said. He was still sat on the sofa, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands covering his mouth. “They said they were there to kill Matt and Jeremy. If they wanted Matt and Jeremy dead, and they didn’t do it as soon as they got to the prison, then they didn’t know Gus and Matt wanted them alive and that we were hired to do break them out. Burnie must have thought that the four of you were just unlucky and got arrested.”

“You think he honestly didn’t know?” Michael asked. Geoff nodded, finally dropping his hands. He was still looking at the laptop screen, a thinking frown on his face.

“Gavin,” Ryan said, catching Gavin’s attention. “Who gave you the key?”

“What?” Ray asked, looking at Ryan like he was fucking crazy.

“Gavin, who gave you it?” Ryan repeated, looking at Gavin levelly.

“Burnie did. I told him that we needed to get Jack out of the Isolation cells before we escaped. I never told him we were taking Jeremy and Matt with us.” Gavin admitted.

“What the fuck was that guy doing in the prison?!” Michael demanded.

“He was a guard.” Gavin said.

“A guard?” Michael repeated. “Why the fuck was he a guard?”

“How the bloody Hell should I know?!” Gavin replied.

“Can you guys take your domestic fight somewhere else?” Ray asked. “This isn’t helping us with the exposition.”

“Hang on, let me see if I got this right.” Gus said. “So Burns was posing as a guard in the prison. You must have known him beforehand and he gave you a key to get Jack out of the Isolation cells. From that, we know Burns _didn’t_  know that you were hired to get the people that they were there to kill.”

“That sounds about right.” Gavin said, nodding absently.

“Well I’m glad that’s all sorted out.” Meg said, finally joining in the conversation. All eyes went to her and she took a breath before she spoke. “I still have two questions; one, where was Ashley? I couldn’t hear her.”

“She wasn’t on screen.” Gavin said softly. Meg nodded solemnly, like she had just heard news of a tragedy. (Maybe that’s how it felt to her).

“What was your other question?” Gus prompted.

“What did they mean when they said ‘ _permanent removal_ ’? They _blew_  up the car we were driving, so they know we’re immortal.” Meg said. “I want to know how they plan to ‘ _permanently remove_ ’ people who are immortal.”

“Whatever it is, let’s hope we get our girls before we have to find out.” Geoff said, effectively ending the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everyone who guess correctly gets a cookie, because the only hints you got were really obscure references so four for you


	21. Living the High Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished my first half-term of sixth form, and everyone knows a milestone is celebrated with a chapter of a fic :D
> 
> also there's a lot of drug use in this chapter so if you don't like that, you could just skip this one if you really really hate it

It felt nice to be smoking in Ryan’s room again. Just them, the room full of smoke and a silence that felt like a blanket.

“How do you think the others are handling this?” Ryan asked, lighting up another cigarette, rolling the rose lighter in his hand unconsciously.

“Well, I’m pretty sure Michael and Gavin made up.” Ray said. “Seeing as they’re banging right now.”

“Where’s Meg?” Ryan asked. “I thought she was with them.”

“She is.” Ray said, taking another drag of his blunt.

“What about Geoff?” Ryan said, conveniently side-stepping that conversation path.

“What about him?” Ray asked.

“Well I haven’t been around him as long as you have, but he seems…” Ryan said, trailing off as he tried to find the right word.

“Just fine?” Ray offered. Ryan nodded, still thinking. “He has to be.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.

“It’s Geoff. He’s the guy in charge and he _started_  the Crew. Geoff has to be fine.” Ray said, shrugging.

There was a small knock at the door and Ryan called for the person to come in. Geoff poked his head around the door and stood awkwardly in the doorway. He was still in jeans and a t-shirt, which seemed atypical for him. The suit hadn’t made an appearance all day.

“I thought I’d find Ray here.” Geoff said, tucking his hands into his pockets.

“Hey, Geoff,” Ray said. “What do you need?”

“I was just wondering if there was any weed you wouldn’t mind me using.” Geoff said, one hand rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“You want to get blazed?” Ray asked. He didn’t sound judgemental, just surprised. Usually, Geoff’s poison was expensive alcohol.

“Well, Jack’s not here to tell me I can’t.” Geoff joked.

“Can’t let the Mrs know?” Ryan teased.

“She isn’t the Mrs yet.” Geoff pointed out. Ryan looked like he was going to ask something, but Ray cut him off before he could.

“I have another blunt here, Geoff.” Ray said, holding one up for him to take. Geoff walked over and took it from Ray, holding it in his hand naturally.

“Thanks, Ray.” Geoff said, turning to leave the room. Ryan shot Ray a look and Ray returned it.

“Actually, Geoff.” Ryan spoke up, catching Geoff’s attention. “Are you sure you don’t want stay and smoke with us?”

“Smoking together is your thing, I don’t want to get in the way of that.” Geoff said.

“Come on, Geoff. Get blazed with us! Well, me. Mr Sober over there’s just smoking normal cigarettes.” Ray said.

“If you’re sure.” Geoff said, sitting on the floor next to them. Ray offered the skull lighter to Geoff but he pulled out his own and used that to light the blunt.

“I haven’t seen that before.” Ryan commented, nodding towards the lighter. Geoff passed it to him as he took a drag. If he was going to cough, then he hid it expertly and Ray raised his eyebrows in an ‘ _alright then_ ’ kind of way.

Ryan held it out so Ray could look at it as well and they both read the inscription on it.

‘ _To my firestarter_ ’ was engraved in the side of the lighter in a fancy kind of cursive.

“Did Jack give you that?” Ryan asked, handing it back to Geoff, who shook his head as he held the lighter tightly in his palm.

“I got it for myself.” Geoff said. “My first wife used to call me a firestarter.”

“You were married?” Ray asked, sitting up a bit straighter. Geoff hardly ever talked about stuff from before his first death. (Maybe he only talked about it when he was drunk and no one was listening, or when he was all alone).

Geoff nodded slowly, taking another, long drag of the blunt. His eyes were just starting to go pink and the muscles in his shoulders had relaxed.

“Before I died the first time, I had a wife and a couple kids.” Geoff said. “When she died, I couldn’t love again.”

“What about Jack?” Ray continued.

“Jack’s different. She’s always different.” Geoff said, the smallest smile on his face. “Did we ever tell you guys how we met?”

“No.” Ryan said softly, flicking some ash off into an ashtray. He pushed the ashtray over to Geoff, who did the same.

“I thought she was an angel when we first met.” Geoff admitted. “I was fucking drunk in some alley and she saw me die and respawn. She took me to her apartment and we found out that we weren’t alone.”

“So how come you didn’t fall in love with us when you met us?” Ray asked, keeping a straight face entirely. Geoff laughed humorlessly, watching the smoke drift and curl above them.

“Because whoever’s up there is a sadistic fuck.” Geoff said softly.

“You better not be insulting my man J.C.” Ray said, only half joking. Geoff’s laugh had some life to it that time and Ray knew that he was helping.

“Why do you think they went for Jack?” Ryan asked Geoff, stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray. “I mean, it’s not like we’re _always_  around each other, and if they know who Gus is, then there are at least three targets they could have gone for: Gus, you or me. And they went for none of them.”

“Rye, if it’s who we think it is, then they don’t just want information. They’re dramatic as dicks; they’ll want a show. They’ll want us to publically admit defeat and they think that they can get that by going through our girls. They go through all that, _then_  they’ll make their move.” Geoff said. “But, I know we have one thing on our side.” He took a long drag of the blunt, finishing it and stubbing it out in the ashtray.  

“Yeah?” Ray asked, his eyebrows creased together as his own burned slowly in his hand.  

“He doesn’t know Jack like I do.” Geoff said, blowing the smoke out of his mouth and watching it curl and drift up into the air. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that character development
> 
> the back stories are some of my favourite things to plan out tbh


	22. Playing Mind Games Like an Arcade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry updates are much slower now but I'm glad that people still seem to really like this fic :D

When Jack woke up, she was all alone in a room that was practically identical to the one she was just in. It still looked like a police interrogation room and Jack was beginning to get suspicious that that was _exactly_  where she was.

She was still overly-cuffed to her chair and table. There was still a single light bulb swinging ominously above her. Everything was just _still_. And it creeped her out.

The door creaked open and a figure walked in, stopping just out of the range of the light.

“If you’re the one who shot me, you’re a son of a bitch.” Jack said simply. The figure laughed at her bluntness and stepped into the light of the naked bulb.

It was a man who looked near to his forties and he had hair that curled a little wildly on his head. His glasses glinted in the light so she couldn’t quite see the colour. The man was dressed sharply, pinstripe waistcoat and all. (Jack wondered if he was some kind of officer or a douche bag who was stuck in the 1940’s - and coming from _her_  that was saying something).

“Hello, Jack. I’ve heard a lot about you.” The person said. His voice was familiar but unlike the other man, Jack placed this straight away. “It’s nice to actually meet you.”

“Same here. I’ve heard a lot about you too, Burnie. Gavin’s horrible at keeping secrets.” Jack said politely. The man, Burnie, just laughed again, but this time it sounded a bit tight.

“Yeah, he is.” Burnie agreed, moving so he sat on the edge of the table. “How’s he been anyway? We haven’t talked since the prison.”

“A little relationship trouble, but I think he’s still happy.” Jack said. Burnie nodded, a small smile on his face.

“Sorry about all the restraints. Couldn’t take any chances, you know.” Burnie said, nodding towards the handcuffs that held Jack back. She jerked her arm gently, vividly remembering the broken wrist that was barely healed.

“I would understand if I was the Vagabond,” Jack admitted, wishing she had enough give to brush away a few hairs that had fallen in her face and were beginning to bother her. “I’m pretty sure I’m the least dangerous of the crew.”

“I’ve heard different.” Burnie said. “Someone told me that you used to be the best boxer in the southern states. And I saw your fight at the prison when you beat on that guy. And I know that you and Geoff put together the most dangerous crew in Los Santos. You can’t do that without being a little dangerous.”

Jack felt her jaw tighten. It never went well when they didn’t underestimate her (which almost never happened, anyway). And it _really_  didn’t help that he remembered the fight at the prison. That couldn’t work in her favour.

“So there’s no way I’m getting these off.” Jack said, lifting her bound hands to rattle the handcuff chains. There was no question about it.

“‘Fraid not, Jack.” Burnie said. He sounded apologetic. “By the way, sorry about the whole blowing up your car thing. We just needed a bargaining chip against Geoff.”

“And you thought Lindsay and I were your best bet?” Jack asked. At least this wasn’t purely a revenge kidnapping.

“Geoff’s always had a soft spot for his Crew.” Burnie said, shrugging his shoulders. “He cares too much.”

“So you’re exploiting that?” Jack pressed. She wanted to get under his skin. Find a weak spot.

“Look,” Burnie said, pausing to gather his thoughts. “Geoff’s a stubborn son of a bitch. We need information that we _know_  he has. If we have to use his crew as a leverage, we will.”

“You _really_  want something from Geoff.” Jack said, narrowing her eyes at him. “What do you want? Money?”

“If he did, you wouldn’t be here, Jack.” Burnie said plainly. He started to get an irritated edge to his voice and Jack knew she could just keep playing dumb. “It’s not _Geoff_  we want. It the guy he takes jobs from sometimes. _That_  guy owes us something. But we can’t pin him down. The only person he’s had contact with is Geoff.”

“And once you get the information you want?”

“Then we’ll leave you guys alone. You’re not our business.” Burnie said simply.

Jack stayed silent. She’d gotten enough information out of him.

Luckily for Jack, alarms started to blare at that moment and Burnie stood up suddenly, looking at the door behind him.

“Oh, what now?” He muttered, leaving the room and letting the door slam shut.

Jack let out a breath.

She knew it wasn’t the Crew. Not yet. They hadn’t had enough time.

Jack could only hope whoever it was knew what they were doing and got out of there as soon as possible. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so short I'm so sorry...


	23. Revelations in the Midday Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so bad now that the updates aren't all that regular but A-levels are hard and I'm involved in some extra-curricular activities that require a good chunk of my time so thank you to everyone who's still reading this and thank you for waiting patiently for the updates :3

The next morning in the apartment was rough.

Geoff had walked into the living room and looked on in partial-surprise when he saw Ryan and Ray cooking together while Michael, Gavin and Meg sat at the breakfast bar. Ryan looked up at him as he approached and passed him a mug of coffee without a word.

He still wasn’t wearing any face paint or even the mask, and his hair was tied up away from his face in a messy bun that looked like he’d done without a mirror. Geoff was sure he hadn’t seen that much of Ryan’s face in _years_.

“Morning boss.” Michael said, surprisingly chipper for that time of morning. He must have had a good night.

“Morning. Where’s Gus?” Geoff asked, sipping his coffee slowly.

“He went to talk to someone.” Gavin said, chugging back a red bull.

“Did he say when he was going to be back?” Geoff continued, leaning against the fridge.

“He didn’t. _But_  he gave me his new number if anything happens.” Ryan said. “Food’s almost ready, guys.”

“We’re eating breakfast at the table again?” Geoff said. They hadn’t done that in a while. The three sat at the bar got up and transferred themselves to the expensive mahogany table that Geoff had bought years before.

“Lunch.” Ray corrected. “It’s midday, dude.”

“We thought it was better to let you sleep in.” Ryan admitted, beginning to serve up the food they’d been cooking. Geoff was taken aback. He never slept in: they always had too much to do.

Nonetheless, he went and sat at the table beside Gavin, watching as Ray and Ryan played Happy Families and put the plates of food in front of the Crew. All of them sat around the table and ate in silence. There was still a lot to talk about and no one wanted to be the one to bring it up.

Geoff cleared his throat and put his fork down halfway through the meal.

“Any packages?” He asked idly. Ryan looked up at him sharply. He shook his head.

“Nothing yet.” Ryan said, also skirting around the issue. Geoff nodded solemnly.

The front door burst open and everyone around the table jumped to their feet, guns materialising in their hands from the many hiding places they had.

“Wait!” Meg shouted, pushing her way through the Crew to get to the intruders.

Everyone relaxed as they watched Meg run up to Grif and Ashley and throw her arms around them, pulling them into a fierce hug.

“Ashley?” Ryan asked, placing his gun on a nearby table. Ashley looked at him over Meg’s shoulder and broke away from the hug. Ryan moved forwards, hugging her tightly.  Ashley’s hands gripped his shirt as they hugged, her head only being able to reach his shoulder. They both dragged Meg into the hug and stood for a moment, all three of them just _relieved_  to be reunited again. They all broke away from each other and that broke the silence in the room.

“What happened? How did you escape?” Geoff asked, turning to Grif.

“I tried to break them out.” Grif admitted. “Sorry I haven’t been in contact, but I had to lay low for a while. I got Ashley out then the alarm tripped so we had to go. I’m sorry I could get Lindsay and Jack.” She said, not meeting Geoff’s eye.

He took a step forward and pulled Grif into a hug. She stilled for a moment, but she returned the hug.

“Thank you.” Geoff said. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

Grif stepped away, looking at Geoff curiously. Something in her body language told him she either didn’t believe him or was waiting for the catch.

“You’re serious.” Grif said, watching for some subtle signal telling him otherwise.

“I am.” Geoff confirmed. “I’m just glad that you and Ashley got out of there. Burns is a dangerous guy, I’m just glad you got out of there.”

“You’re a weird kind of crime lord, Ramsey.” Grif said, a soft smile on her face.

“That’s how I built my empire.” Geoff said jokingly. He looked over his shoulder at the rest of them and turned back to Grif, his expression slightly changed. “Let’s talk in private.” He said quietly, leading her down the hallway. He stood outside the Heist room and made a show of opening the door dramatically.

It was just a fairly small room with a oversized map of Los Santos plastered to the far wall. It had lines and arrows and notes scrawled across it in different coloured sharpies with the occasional doodle around Los Santos. One wall was taken up by weapons and supplies and a large table was placed exactly in the middle of the room with seven mismatched chairs around it. It looked like each Crew member had just brought their favourite chair into the room and left them there for the next heist planning session.

Geoff walked over to a small mini-fridge and pulled out two bottles of beer. He passed one to Grif and she took a long drink of it while she waited for Geoff to say what he was going to.

“What do you need?” Geoff asked professionally.

“What?”

“Funds? Weapons? You don’t look like you’re going to stay very long.” Geoff said, fixing Grif with the look that could close any deal.

“I have a friend, Chelsea, who lives in the south who can help me. And I have contacts in Pennsylvania that owe me a favour.” Grif said.

“So what do you need?” Geoff asked again.

“Just keep Ash and Meg safe for me.” Grif said.

“They can’t do that themselves?” Geoff looked amused by the notion. He may not have been there with them on that night out, but from the stories Meg told over dinner and the adventures Ryan had described, Geoff had no worries about those girls.

“Not against Burns.” Grif pointed out. “They’ve… There’s some history there.”

“There’s a lot of history with him and the Crew.” Geoff admitted. “Whatever it is, we can make it work. And we’re going to get our girls back, one way or another.”

Grif put her beer down and looked at him with a strange smile on her face.

“You’re a good man, Ramsey. You remind me of someone I used to know.” Grif admitted, looking at him with almost a sad smile on her face.

“Funny, you remind me of someone I knew from my first life.” Geoff said, mirroring her smile. Grif turned to leave, but she paused at the door and looked back at Geoff.

“Whoever it is you’re holding onto,” She said gently, “let them go.”

Geoff couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

He let the door shut, hearing the soft click echo in the empty room.

“ _I’m trying to_.” Geoff whispered. It was more than a sentence, it was a promise. Even if he was the only one who heard it.


	24. Hello From The Other Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> blehhhhhhhh writing is hard and I'm sorry it takes so long to update this now I'm so sorry
> 
> (blatant Adele reference is blatant)

The burner phone on the table in front of them rang and Geoff looked pointedly at Gavin.

“Ready?” Geoff asked.

“Ready.” Gavin said, beginning to type on his laptop. His job was to try and trace the origin of the phonecall by any means necessary while Geoff kept them talking. Ryan was on hand with a backup laptop; if anything went wrong, _he_  was to either take over or defend Gavin’s laptop.

Geoff answered the call and put it on speaker. He leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Start talking, dickbag.” Geoff said, setting the tone of how he wanted this conversation

to play out. He sorely wished the sound of Gavin’s typing couldn’t be heard through the phone.

“ _Geoff_.” Burns said over the phone. “ _I think you should start being a bit nicer_.”

“I’m not here to be nice, Burns. Two of my Crew are missing and you took them, so start talking.” Geoff said sharply. All his years of dealing with criminals had taught him _exactly_  what tone to use to get what he wanted.

There was a moment of silence from the phone but it sounded like someone swearing softly.

“ _It’s not you we want to talk to_.” A second voice said. Gus and Geoff exchanged a look that none of the others seemed to understand. Heyman. Had to be. “ _Where are Sorola and Hullum?_ ”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Geoff said easily.

“ _I smell bullshit._ ” Heyman said, though it sounded like it was being said to the Burns, rather than them.

“ _Yeah, I’m not sure we believe you there, Geoff_.” Burns said.

“Oh yeah?” Geoff challenged.

“ _Yeah. We think you’re covering for them_.” Heyman chipped in, probably taking the phone off Burns.

“ _Go check on the girl, alright, I got this._ ” Burns said, his voice faint and directed to Heyman. “ _So Geoff,_ ”

“Yeah?” Geoff interrupted. “What’s wrong buddy?”

“ _Are you going to drop the act any time soon? How much do you care about Lindsay? Or Jack?_ ” Burns said. “ _We had a nice chat earlier, you know. She told me how much she missed you guys. She’s pretty emotional for some hardcore gang member_.”

“Jack’s a nice person.” Geoff said neutrally. “And if she’s emotional when she’s talking to you, then it’s an act.”

“ _Geoff!_ ” Ryan hissed. Geoff looked up at him sharply, but Ryan’s expression was just as sharp.  

Geoff wanted Burns to know that Jack was playing him like a fucking fiddle. He wanted Burns to know that Jack was much tougher than he’d ever know.

Ryan knew that Geoff was outing Jack’s plan. He knew that Jack was biding her time and Geoff was putting that in danger.

Burns laughed down the phone, and it wasn’t even a malicious laugh.

“ _I’m not a moron, Geoff_.” Burns said. “ _She’s good company though. Now I know why you keep her around._ "

“What about Lindsay?” Geoff asked. “You said these calls would be proof that they were both alive, Burns.”

“ _She’s… chatty._ ” Burns admitted. “ _But I’m keeping my promise and they’re both alive and well_.”

“I want to talk to them.” Geoff demanded. Maybe he was pushing his luck, but he sure as shit wasn’t going to take someone’s word for this kind of stuff.

“ _'Fraid I can’t do that just yet, Geoff._ ” Burns said, probably shrugging on the other end of the phone.

“Then we have no business together and I’ll make sure your death is as painful as possible.” Geoff threatened. He saw Michael and Ray exchange a look out of the corner of his eye.

“ _Slow down there, buddy_.”  Burns said, but he didn’t sound afraid or threatened. “ _How about we strike up  little deal for a little information?_ ”

“What kind of deal?” Geoff demanded. Gavin silently called Gus over and scribbled something down on a spare piece of paper. Gus scanned it and nodded, taking it over to Geoff and pressing it into his hand.

“ _We’re reasonable people, Geoff. We’ll give you one of them back, in exchange for a little information._ ” Burns bartered.

“Deal.” Geoff agreed, quickly scanning the paper in his hands.

“ _You first._ ”

“Sorola’s credit card was last used at a convenience store in South Los Santos.” Geoff said, reading off the paper.

“ _I’m gonna need a little bit more than that buddy_.” Burns said.

“It was last used a week ago, eleven-thirty-two at night.” Geoff elaborated. “It was a store just opposite a bunch of hotels. Do you want to know what he bought?”

“ _The street?_ ”

Geoff rattled off the street name that had been scribbled in Gavin’s handwriting (a victory in itself).

“Now you keep your end of the deal.” Geoff practically ordered.

“ _Alright, a deal’s a deal. Now tell me Geoff, which one can you not live without?_ ” Burns asked.

“ _DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT GEOFF!_ ” Jack’s voice suddenly came through the phone and the Crew all caught their breath. Even Meg looked up sharply.  

“ _You get one of yours, Geoff. It’s Jack or Lindsay_.” Burns said, ignoring the outburst behind him. “ _Choose, Geoff._ ”

“ _Geoff, if you do what I know you want to, I will straight up murder you._ ” Jack’s voice said again. Geoff looked up at the rest of them. He saw Ryan mouth something at him, but he couldn’t focus enough to decipher it.

Geoff stared at the table for a while, his hands folded in front of his face.

“Geoff-” Gus practically whispered, resting his hand on Geoff’s shoulder.  

“Lindsay.” Geoff said finally. He sounded tired. “Give us Lindsay.”

“What-.” Ryan began to say, but Geoff just shot him a look.

“ _You sure?_ ” Burns said, sounding surprised. His voice sounded quieter when he spoke again, like he was leaning away from the phone. “ _Guess he isn’t that into you, Jack._ ”

“Lindsay.” Geoff said again, this time firmer. “You said you’d give us back one and I want Lindsay.”

“ _Alright. A deal’s a deal_.” Burns said. “ _I’ll text you the address where you can find her and at what time tomorrow_.”

The phone line went dead.

Geoff scrubbed his hands over his face. You could almost see all his years of life on him at that moment. He turned his head and looked at Gavin.

“Anything?” He asked. It felt like he was a desperate man asking for his miracle. Maybe he was.

“They were blocking the signal. I did everything I could.” Gavin apologised. “The phone was registered to a fake name anyway.” He said.

“Smart.” Gus muttered.

“What was the fake name?” Meg asked, curiously.

“Leonard Church.” Gavin said. Gus glanced at Geoff again. “There’s hundreds of Leonard Churches in police and state databases across the continent but they’re all fake.”

“Next time, Ryan helps you, alright.” Geoff said, standing up. He walked past Gavin, squeezing his shoulder. “You did good, Gavvy.” He said, leaving the room. Everyone else was silent for a long time. Gus was the person who broke it.

“Well _fuck_.” He said.

“No shit.” Michael agreed.

“Why did Geoff do that?” Meg asked, looking between Ryan and Gavin.

“Geoff has his reasons.” Ryan said, not looking at her.

“He’s known Jack longer, and out of the two of them; Jack’s the one who’s going to have the information that they want. There’s no point in having both of them captured if only one of them has the information they need.” Gavin said, closing his laptop and putting it on the table beside the phone. “And Jack’s older than Lindsay. It hurts less for her.”

“You mean dying?” Meg asked.

“Yeah.”

“But she told him not to do it, and he did it anyway.” Meg said.

“She was telling him to pick Lindsay. Jack knew Geoff would want to pick her and told him not to. She’s like that.” Michael said, running his hands through his curls. “ _God_ , this is so fucked up. They’re fucking _toying_  with us.”

He stood up suddenly and stalked towards the door.

“Michael, where are you going?” Gavin asked, frowning at him.

“The gun range. I need to shoot something and Geoff hasn’t gotten ‘round to fixing the table.” Michael said. “Who’s coming with?” He asked, stopping in the doorway. Ryan moved towards him and they both left. The sound of the front door slamming told the rest of them of their departure.

Ray was still stood in the corner. He had refused to say a word since he entered the room and Gus had noticed.

“Hey man, are you okay?” Gus asked, looking right at Ray. Ray looked up in surprise but he nodded.

“I’m going to go get high.” Ray said, suddenly walking towards the door. He stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder with a small smile on his face. “Who’s coming with?”

“Ray-” Gavin started, but Ray had already left. Gavin ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “BOLLOCKS!” He _just_  shouted. Meg put her hand on his back and he leaned into the touch.

“This is fucked.” Meg said.

“It could be worse.” Gus supplied.

“How could this be worse?” Meg asked, beginning to rub circles in Gavin’s back soothingly.

“They could be mortal.” 


	25. Two Back, One To Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really haven't forgotten about this, and maybe now I'll get my butt into gear about this and the Fake AH Kings fics and drabbles
> 
> so I'm so sorry for the month gap between chapters, I really am

The address Burns had sent them via text lead them to some storage facility on the edge of the city. The facility was made up of rows upon rows of fairly large garage-like structures with garage doors that had been graffitied and tagged so many times it was hard to tell what the original paint was. It looked like no one had been there in months and Meg quickly checked her gun nervously. She must have checked it a million times on the drive over. 

Michael was driving the car and Ryan was sat in the back. For the first time in days, Ryan had his mask and face-paint on, looking deceptively intimidating as he stared pensively out the window. Meg had insisted on coming too and Ryan had vouched for her.

She felt a bit sorry for the rest of the crew who were back at the apartment, waiting for their call that Lindsay was safe and sound. Michael turned the car off and almost sprinted out the car.

Meg took one last glance at herself in the mirror to check her wig still looked fine and followed Michael. Ryan wasn’t far behind. 

“You kept the red wig?” Ryan asked, his voice low as he caught up to Meg. 

“You have your mask, and I have mine.” Meg said, keeping the grip on her handgun loose but firm. 

“That’s a fair point.” Ryan admitted. They walked up to a split in the path and Ryan stopped her. He held out something that looked like a bluetooth headset mixed with a headset microphone. Meg took it from him. “So we can keep in touch.” Ryan explained. Meg made a small ‘ _ oh _ ’ noise and attached the small device in her ear.  

“See you on the other side.” Meg said, walking off down one of the corridors and she heard Ryan go the other way. 

Her steady footsteps made crunching noises on the gravel underfoot and Meg kept her eyes peeled for any abnormality on the surroundings. The fringe of the wig she wore fell in her face slightly and Meg had to flick it back as she walked. 

She passed one of the storage garages and paused. Her eyes scanned it and she listened intently. Small scratches littered the spray-painted door and she saw that the door was closed but unlocked. 

Meg stepped up to the door and gently knocked on it thrice. 

There was definitely breathing on the other side of the door. Meg crouched and pulled the door open, stepping out of the way as she did so. Her gun was up and aimed as she peeked her head around to look inside. 

A figure was laid across the floor and Meg tucked the gun away in her waistband. She kneeled by the figure and quickly checked their pulse. A sigh of relief left her and she turned on the earpiece. 

“Michael? I found her.” Meg said, not used to this way of communication. 

“ _ You did? _ ” That was Ryan’s voice in her ear. Meg shifted so she was propping Lindsay up against her knees. 

“ _ I’m on my way. _ ” Michael said. There was a note of hope in his voice that made Meg’s heart hurt. 

“Come on Lindsay, wake up, you’re safe now.” Meg practically cooed. 

Lindsay’s eyes twitched and Meg gently patted her face to try and wake her up faster. She didn’t want Michael and/or Ryan seeing Lindsay passed out. 

Meg heard footsteps outside the garage and redoubled her efforts to wake up her friend. 

“Lindsay! You need to wake up.” Meg hissed. 

Lindsay started awake with a cry of ‘ _ JACK! _ ’ just as someone rounded the doorway and stopped dead inside. Meg looked up and saw Michael staring at Lindsay. He looked vulnerable and Meg couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen someone look that openly  _ hopeful _ .

“ _ Lindsay _ .” Michael breathed, practically skidding to his knees in front of them. Meg held Lindsay up and Michael took her into his arms. Lindsay buried her face into his shoulder and her hands clutched his jacket tightly. 

“I’m sorry.” Lindsay muttered, her voice muffled by Michael’s leather jacket. 

“It doesn’t matter Linds.” Michael said, holding her as tightly as he dared to.

“But Jack’s still there.” 

“We’re going to get her back.” Michael promised, gently stroking her hair.

“ _ Are you both with her? _ ” Ryan’s voice sounded in Meg’s ear. 

“Yeah, she’s here. She’s alive and she’s breathing.” Meg said, sitting back on her haunches. 

“ _ I’ll start the car. Can you get them back to me? _ ” Ryan asked. 

“Yeah. I got this, Vagabond.” Meg promised. “I’ll just give them a moment first.” 

“ _ That’s probably a good idea _ .” Ryan agreed. There was a short burst of static and Meg knew he turned his comm. off. 

She sat for a moment and watched the reunion, wondering not for the first time, how many more times she would be able to have a reunion in her infinite lifetimes. 

 

Michael helped Lindsay through the front door after Meg and Ryan had entered. The room felt like it went still as soon as Lindsay crossed the threshold. 

She looked around at the faces that were watching her. Gavin stood up and practically ran to her, throwing his arms around Lindsay’s shoulders and holding her tightly. Lindsay hesitated to put her arms around him in return but when she did she buried her face into his shoulder. 

“You’re back.” Gavin murmured. He stepped backwards and held Lindsay at arm's length, a slightly crooked grin on his face. Lindsay saw someone else stand out out of the corner of her eye and she froze. 

Geoff. 

He took a few steps towards her and stopped. Gavin stepped away, standing next to Michael. (Lindsay couldn’t not notice Michael’s arm wrap around him). 

Lindsay couldn’t bring herself to look Geoff in the eye. She visibly flinched when Geoff rested his hands on her shoulders. 

It shouldn’t have, but it took her by surprise when he pulled her in for a spine-crushing hug. 

“I’m so glad you’re safe.” Geoff said. Lindsay felt tears prick in her eyes. 

“Jack’s still there.” Lindsay said, feeling the misplaced guilt begin to well up inside her. 

“We were given a choice, Lindsay,” Gavin began to explain. “About who Geoff could save. He chose you.” 

“But-” 

“Lindsay,” Geoff said, catching Lindsay’s attention again by stepping backwards. “I know you feel guilty that you’re here and Jack isn’t, but believe me, I’m not going to stop until we get her back. But right now, let’s celebrate you being home.” 

Lindsay felt more at ease than she had in years and she felt Michael’s hand on the base of her spine. Her eyes travelled past Geoff and Meg to a new face she thought she might have seen before. Suddenly it clicked and Lindsay felt herself take a small, half-step backwards. 

“Simmons? What the fuck are you doing here?” Lindsay asked. The room stilled and the attention was split between Lindsay and the man. 

“Who the fuck is Simmons? That’s fucking Gus.” Michael said, glancing at Gus worriedly. 

“Well,  _ shit _ .” Gus hissed. He turned away slightly and Lindsay wondered if she fucked up. Geoff’s posture changed ever so slightly and Lindsay felt her stomach drop. 

“Gus, that can wait.” Geoff said, taking control of the situation again. “What we need to focus on now, is getting Heyman and Burns off your tail and getting our girl back.” 

“You’re right.” Gus said. “What do you suggest then?” 

Geoff looked over at Gavin and Lindsay saw Gavin give him the slightest nod. Lindsay couldn’t help but feel reassured at the fact that the Crew probably had some plan that involved one too many explosions but would somehow work out for the best. 

You know, the usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit 3000 hits!! :D


	26. Last One In's A Rotten Egg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel horrible that this hasn't been updated but I've spent so long trying to find a way to bridge the previous chapters but I just can't. I'm sorry. 
> 
> So this is the final chapter (not included the upcoming epilogue) and I've had this written for a while and I think it's just time I uploaded it and was done with it
> 
> thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story and I'm so thankful to everyone who left a comment or a kudos because you're amazing and you always make my day a bit brighter :3

The blaring alarms woke Jack up and she looked around wildly for a moment. 

The burst open and Burnie ran in, gun in his hand. He quickly tucked it in his belt and fumbled with a key. 

The cuffs attaching Jack to the chair and table fell away and he crouched down to unlock the ones keeping her feet together. He stood up and grabbed her arm, lifting her to her feet bodily.

“We’re leaving.” Burnie said, pulling Jack out the room. 

“What’s going on?” Jack demanded. She was being led down winding corridors, passing a lot of two-way mirrors. She could see all the empty rooms and wondered if she’d see Lindsay on her way. 

“Your Crew’s looking for you.” Burnie admitted, pushing open a door with his shoulder. A spiral staircase opened in front of them and he began to run up them, dragging Jack behind him. It was awkward to run up stairs with her wrists bound together and her arms being lifted above her shoulders by the man dragging her. 

He shouldered open another door and the space opened up onto the roof. 

Jack could see the city skyline behind a helicopter that was sat on a pad, waiting for them. She felt something in her ache.

Burnie pulled her over to the helicopter and another person burst out of the door behind them. Jack tried to turn to look, hoping against her will that it might be one of her Crew. She felt her heart fall when she saw the other man who Burnie worked with running towards them. 

Anyone but him.

Those thoughts were broken when Burnie forced her into one of the back seats of the helicopter and attached another pair of handcuffs to the chain between the ones on her wrists and attach that to the helicopter. Jack could only sit, her hand cuffed above her, as Burnie sat in the pilot’s seat and started the helicopter. She felt her hair be whipped around from the propellers and the cold wind that cut through the back of the open helicopter. 

“Joel! Watch Jack!” Burnie shouted. The other man climbed in the back with her and tried to stare her down. But if living with the Crew taught her anything, it’s was how to not back down. 

The helicopter lifted off the ground and Jack suddenly felt sick. She was so  _ close _ to being rescued. So close to home.

“ _ He’s got a chopper!” _ Jack heard Michael’s faint voice down below and felt her heart leap in her chest.

She leaned as far as she could and tried to see them. The handcuffs restricted her but she could just about see the car when the helicopter started moving. Michael was stood behind one of the doors, a gun aimed at the door. Geoff stood on the other side, his stance the same. Bullets flew from both directions and Jack wondered if the others were in the building.

“GET A CHOPPER AND FOLLOW US, ASSHOLES!” Jack shouted as loudly as she could down to them. Geoff’s head whipped up and she met his eye. 

The biggest smile broke out over his face and Geoff ducked into the car, probably shouting at Michael to do the same. 

Jack felt herself be pulled back into chopper and drowned out the angry voices of the two men, one of whom was pointing a gun in her face. She looked out the side of the helicopter and watched the city pass her by. The Crew’s car was driving furiously below them and Jack focused on that as best she could. 

They were heading over towards the coast. Where the fuck were they  _ going _ ? Where the fuck was  _ she  _ going?

Jack saw the coast below her and knew she had to act fast if she stood a chance of getting back to her crew. 

She twisted her hands a bit and trailed her fingers down the handcuff chains. She was a slightly weak link in the handcuffs connecting her to the helicopter. Jack pulled down and they snapped apart.  _ Finally _ . 

The helicopter turned sideways sharply and Jack had to hold to not be thrown out. Bullets started flying and Burnie must have decided they needed to get to where he was headed faster. 

Jack stood up and put her heels on the very edge of the helicopter. The other man stood up as well and pointed the gun at her, his shouted words barely making an impact on her. 

“Well fellas, it’s been fun.” Jack said, giving them a mock salute. She barely glanced down to check the ocean was underneath her before Jack pushed off the edge and felt herself begin to freefall. 

There was something a bit peaceful about falling. Jack watched as the other man came into view. He’d tried to grab her before she fell but now he was just crouched with his arm stretched towards her.

Jack flipped him off. 

Prick.

The wind whistled past her ears so much it defended her. Her hair whipped into her face as gravity pulled her down. 

Jack had no delusions that she’d survive this fall. The helicopter was far too high and hitting water from any height on her back wasn’t a good thing. She couldn’t even twist herself around in the air to try and dive or go feet first (she’d probably break a couple bones anyway). 

Her eyes closed and Jack waited to meet the water. 

 

Her eyes snapped open and Jack immediately realised she was underwater. How far down, she couldn’t tell. 

Her underwater vision was terrible but she could see a dark shape heading towards her.

Jack tried her best to hold her breath, but she’d already swallowed water and the lack of air in her lungs made them  _ burn _ . 

Jack felt herself die again as water took over her. 

 

She woke up again with her head above the surface and the first thing she did was cough up all the water in her lungs. She felt someone’s arm on her back, gently thumping it to help her purge the water that had almost drowned her. Or that  _ had _ drowned her. Her head felt a bit fuzzy and it was a bit hard to focus. 

“It’s okay, Jack. You’re okay.” 

Jack looked properly at the person holding her and held a smile break out over her face. 

“Geoff!” She cried, or tried to at least. Jack wanted to hug him senseless, but the only reason they weren’t sinking was because Geoff was treading water while holding her with one arm. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you, you son of a bitch.” 

“I can’t believe you jumped out of a fucking chopper!” Geoff said, quickly brushing Jack’s sodden hair from her face with his free hand. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket and Jack could see all of his tattoos through the sodden material of his clothes.  “You’re not leaving my sight for a week, motherfucker! I’m not losing you again!” 

Jack looked over his shoulder and saw a boat heading out towards them. 

“Did you swim all the way out here?” Jack asked, looking back at Geoff incredulously. 

“ _ No _ . I lost the jetski I stole.” Geoff admitted, a tad sheepish. Jack laughed, loud and  _ real _ . 

The water surged as the boat pulled up next to them and hands reached down to pull them on board. Ryan had grabbed Jack and as soon as she was safely on the boat, he pulled her into a fierce hug.

“I missed you too, buddy.” Jack murmured as he held her fiercely. Ryan let her go and Gavin almost tackled her overboard with the ferocity of his hug. He wasn’t even hugging her properly, he just had his arms around her sideways. 

“Jack! You jammy bastard!” Gavin shouted, pressing his head into her arm as he hugged the life out of her. Jack wished her hands were free so she could hug him back. 

“Hey Gavvy.” Jack said, awkwardly patting his side. Gavin let go and sat back, smiling at her so widely she was sure it must have hurt. 

“Let’s get you home,” Ryan said, sitting back in the driver’s seat of the boat. He revved the engine and swung the boat around to drive them home. 

“That chopper’s hauling arse.” Gavin remarked, watching the vehicle disappear in the sky. “Shouldn’t we try and shoot it down? What if they come back.” He said, looking at the others nervously. 

“We just destroyed their entire operation, Gav. They’d be fucking idiots to come back here.” Geoff said. He had his arms around Jack and was practically cradling her against him. 

“And right now I think we should worry about Jack getting hypothermia.” Ryan said, focusing himself on the boat and the car that pulled up along the pier with a familiar green symbol on. 

Geoff sat up for a moment and pulled his discarded suit jacket towards him. He wound it around Jack’s shoulders and she held it across her chest tight. 

“This isn’t much better, you know.” Jack said teasingly, her hands almost shaking as she gripped the jacket. Geoff just laughed and pulled her closer to him. 

“I missed you.” Geoff said. Jack leaned forwards and pressed a short, loving kiss against Geoff’s mouth. 

‘ _ I missed you too. _ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now all that's left is the goodbye.....


	27. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is finally finished and I'm just so sorry it took me this long to actually complete. As far as I'm concerned, this is the end of this series (unless something comes up) so again, an absolutely _massive_ thank you to everyone who's read this fic or series and commented or left a kudos or just enjoyed it
> 
> You're all amazing and I love you all <3

Meg sat patiently on the chair, enjoying the feeling of Lindsay playing with her hair and sculpting it into some glamorous style worthy of a film star on the red carpet. Lindsay laughed at something Meg said and almost lost the strand of hair she was holding. Their laughter was almost dorky and Gavin just smiled and nudged Michael’s arm with his elbow.

“They get on pretty well, don’t they?” Gavin said, the beer in his hand half-empty and cool against his warm hand. Michael had his arm around Gavin’s shoulders and they were sat close together on the sofa. Their legs were pressed together and it was so easy and casual that it felt natural.

Michael nodded as he saw Lindsay hug Meg backwards, leaning on her so much that Meg let out a half-shriek-half-laugh and had to brace herself on the table to stop them both falling forwards. Lindsay laughed, loud and slightly drunk against Meg’s shoulder as she wrapped her arms around the other girl.

“Gav, do you really think we can make this work? With all of us?” Michael asked, frowning at the Brit. His eyes held a bit of fear and Gavin’s expression softened.

“Of course I do. Look at us, we’re _perfect_.” Gavin promised, leaning forwards and pressing a small kiss to Michael’s cheek.

“Hey, we get kisses too!” Meg declared, still giggling as she caught the two men in the act. Lindsay pulled away and practically tackled Michael in a hug against the sofa cushions. Not to be outdone, Meg joined in, throwing herself over the other three and landed in Gavin’s lap.

Maybe it was the alcohol in their system, or it was the easy laughter and the late nights, but they stayed like that for a while; bodies tangled together, sharing laughs and body heat. It was casual and easy and  _nice_ to spend hours on the sofa curled up and just being _together_.

And hey, maybe Gavin had a point...

 

“You’re not sticking around?”

Ryan was stood in Ashley’s doorway, watching her pack up her things. He suddenly knew how they felt when he left them all that time ago. (Regret was an awful thing sometimes.)

“Mica offered me a job in another state.” Ashley said, lying on the floor to grab the things that had rolled under the bed. “And I think it’s time I try and make it on my own, you know.”

“With Mica?” Ryan repeated. He didn’t want to admit how saddened he felt watching Ashley prepare to leave. Then again, that was very hypocritical of him. (At least when he left, he spared them the painful goodbye’s).

“You know what I mean.” Ashley said, standing up and looking at him a little imploringly. “I’ve been with The Patch for as long as I can remember. I’ve never struck out on my own, or with new people. I’ve always had you or Meg or even Gus looking after me, and I think now I’m a hundred, I should try leaving the nest.” The small joke actually made Ryan laugh, but he still pulled her into a crushing hug.

“My little Ashley’s all grown up.” He cooed. Ashley laughed and pushed away from him, returning to packing up her things. “At least let me treat you to one last night in Los Santos. Meg too. We’ll go somewhere fancy.”

“As long as you’re paying.” Ashley said, folding up a T-shirt. “Hey, Rye,” She stopped and looked at him properly.

“Yeah?”

“You’ve found some good people here.” Ashley said. “I know we didn’t want you to leave The Patch, but in a way, I’m kinda glad you did. Now you’ve got the Fakes watching out for you and they really care about you.” She smiled at him warmly and Ryan suddenly didn’t want her to leave.

“Hey, if it means anything, I’m glad you had Grif and Meg watching out for you when I was gone.” Ryan said, meaning every single word.

“Well, she couldn’t cook enchiladas as well as you, but she was good company.” Ashley said. Ryan groaned. As it turned out, a couple decades wasn’t enough time for someone to forget the time he set a kitchen on fire trying to make a dish for the first time.

Ashley laughed at him and Ryan was comforted by the fact that he could always ‘ _stop by_ ’ and check on Ashley. Not that he would need to, but it was nice to know he still could. Maybe he could call Mica and surprise Ashley sometime; stop by their city and help them cause a little chaos, if they let him. Put the fear of the Vagabond into their enemies. (God, he sounded like her older brother).

It might do him good to get out more.  

 

Jack walked up to the bar slowly, weaving amongst the people as effortlessly as if she weren’t there.

Her target was a man sat at the bar alone, a single beer in hand. No one had looked at him or acknowledged him since he arrived and sat down. Jack simply sat down on the stool next to him, adjusting the dress she wore effortlessly. She rested her purse on the bar and neither of them said a word for a good few minutes.

“I didn’t think you’d still be in town by now.” Jack said quietly, finally breaking the silence. She didn’t look at him, but he knew who she was talking to.  

“Well, Burnie’s busy following the red herring your Crew gave us.” The man said, not looking at Jack. “Pretty smart thing, actually. It has to be Gavin’s work.”

“Probably was.” Jack agreed, a small smile on her face. “Though I’m guessing Ryan might have helped a little.”

“I know you’re not here to talk about this.” The man said, still not looking at Jack. “So why are you really here, Jack.”

“I couldn’t let it end like that.” Jack admitted after a long moment of silence. “I couldn’t let the last time I saw you be when you were pointing a gun at me.”

“I’m sorry you got mixed up in all of this.” The other man said. “It had nothing to do you with, but Burnie thought we had to go to their last contact-”

“Which was Geoff.” Jack finished his sentence. She didn’t sound angry or sad, just resigned. “I understand. We would have probably done the same thing.”

“Would you?”

“I don’t know.”

They were silent for a long time this time. Still, no one paid them any attention. They might as well have been ghosts in that bar.

“We’ve known each other too long.” The man said eventually, pushing his beer away from him. Jack picked it up and took a swig.

“We have. Since the first time I died.” Jack agreed, her voice sombre. “I’m just sorry this is the last time we’ll have a drink together.”

“Forever’s a long time, Jack.” The man said, but he didn’t sound like he really believed himself. “Maybe some day we’ll see each other again.”

“Maybe.” Jack didn’t seem to believe herself either. “But not in this city.”

“I know.”

They were quiet again. Some of the patrons at the bar began to leave, but still they stayed. Just like always.

“Was this my warning?” The man asks suddenly. “To stay away from here?”

“Kind of. It was mostly a goodbye.” Jack said, her voice suspiciously bland.

“I don’t which is worse.” Jack laughed a little at that and so did the man. She stood up and so did the man. They didn’t say anything as they reached for the other, embracing wordlessly.

“Goodbye, Joel. Maybe in the next life.” Jack whispered.

“I’ll see you then, Jack.” The man said as a promise that neither of them knew if they could keep. “Now go make me proud and rule this city.”

Jack pulled away but she was smiling as she did so. It was a watery smile, but a smile nonetheless. Joel kept his hands on Jack’s shoulders and very gently pressed a kiss to her temple. It was bittersweet and they both pretended that their eyes were dry and there was no pain in their chests.

She left the bar, almost crashing into someone as she went. Joel watched her leave. He knew by now that ‘ _goodbye_ ’ was always more of a suggestion than a promise when it came to immortals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And _scene_

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat with me, I'm [ private-doughnut ](http://private-doughnut.tumblr.com/) on tumblr :3


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